TFP: Spinning Eyes and Burning Hate
by Dark demon619
Summary: For Humanity, weapons, devices, and political power are all methods of gaining power. Yet within them, there lies more. Things to be discovered, to be remembered, and in one boy, something quite ancient. But in truth, what will this strengt lead to? Safety for those he cares about? The end of a massive war? Or just more hatred? TFP/Naruto X-over. Title changed, description altered.
1. Prologue

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, Viz Media, and Shonen Jump.  
Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro.

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._

* * *

_Prologue:_

* * *

_The Eyes. Often, such orbs are commonly described as the 'Windows of the Soul'. For when someone looks into the eyes of another, it is said that they could in truth, be looking into a beings actual soul, witnessing the truth that sat beneath the surface. Emotions, the thoughts behind a facade, all it could be viewed if one simply looked into another's eyes._

_But for every man, what they see can be entirely different from what they expect. Some men might be disturbed with what they see, or even disappointed. Others may be proud or even adored for what lies beneath. For everyone though, such a revelation could be drastically different. They could be strong, weak, cowardly, or even insane._

_The amount such a topic varies is nearly impossible to comprehend._

_For some however, there may be more than simple understanding or emotions hidden behind beneath. There might be secrets as well, secrets that are nearly impossible for one person to understand. And even beyond that, there may lay something that can put all the other aspects to shame._

_Power. Even something so insignificant may in fact, hold a sum of power._

_Power to influence, to control, and even to dominate. To see more clearly, to see the very interworkings of the body, and even the power of a god themselves. But, such power is rarely seen any longer, few even know about it within the present day. For if one was to unlock such power, it would require much from the person in question. It would require pain, suffering, and an unrelenting amount of emotion to unlock such power.  
_

_But once released, the amount of power that would be at one's hands is almost immeasurable. They could command armies single-handedly, crush their foes with a mere glance, and so much more.  
_

_In truth however, when it comes to such overwhelming power...would some see it as a gift or a curse?_

* * *

_Earth, Nevada:_

* * *

The sun shined down rather peacefully onto the hot Nevada desert. The sands and dirt that made up the long and burning desert were calm and silent, nothing disturbing their peaceful existence. Not even the random jackrabbit or coyote disturbed the shining day's peace. Several miles into the desert though, there was something that was disturbing the peace. And it wasn't some natural disturbance of nature or some animal causing a racket due to a sprained leg either.

Instead, the cause of this disruption was a bit more chaotic.

As in, the sound of several explosions, metal colliding against metal, and even some screaming in pain was the cause of the disruption. And if that wasn't the tip of the iceberg, the ones causing the destruction weren't even part of the same dominating species that normally inhabited the planet. They weren't even part of any of the species that lived upon Earths surface.

For within the desert of the proud state of Nevada, a battle was going on. A battle between two groups of a distant species, one that was far older and more advanced than anything that was currently living on Earth.

They were the Cybertronians, an advanced race of living machines that held the power to transform their bodies into various machines for various reasons. But despite their advanced nature, the Cybertronians were locked within a struggle that nearly every species engages in at one point or another.

War.

For hundreds of years now, the Cybertronians had been fighting each other in a long and destructive war. A war that was fought between two groups of Cybertronians, the Autobots and the Decepticons. One group that wished to preserve life while the other wanted to do nothing but end it. The two groups had been fighting each other for hundreds of years, even continuing when their own planet became inhabitable.

It was that reason why they had ended up on Earth of all places. As while it was unknown to the planet's own species, but the Cybertronians had been to Earth once before and had hidden the same material that the Cybertronians needed to survive on the planet's surface. It had been an act of preserving such a material in case it was needed, and as a result it had brought the war to Earth.

And while on Earth, the war between the two groups had eventually drawn the attention of the dominate species on the planet. For while the vast majority of the species had remained quite unaware of the war that was being fought on their world, there was some who had managed to discover the extraterrestrial species that lived among them.

Of that minority however, the ones who actually were the most involved with the aliens were not what one would have suspected.

They were teenagers.

"Seriously, Miko!? Again?" Jack growled under his breath, ducking as a stray blast flew over his head.

Miko chuckled at the teen's aggravation, "Oh come on! You're always such a worrywart when it comes to this type of-"

"Its a battle Miko! I think I have more than enough reason to be worried!"

It had been an accident really. Their unintentional discovery had landed three young humans in the middle of a conflict that had raged longer than recorded history. A war of an alien race far beyond humanity, and on a scale that made most man-made wars seem like mere skirmishes in comparison.

One of them was Jack Darby, the teen who was currently trying to keep himself and his friend alive. Normally a fairly calm boy of fair height, black hair, and a light voice of reason at times (regardless of knowing what was going on at the time or not), Jack was the first of the teens to be introduced to the conflict. It had all been just a wild accident, a fleeting moment of curiosity that literally propelled him into a world he had no idea existed.

On the bright side, Jack had come to know the Autobots, including his future partner and Guardian, Arcee. A tough as nails femme who could fight with the best of them while remaining rather snarky, protective, and realistic while amongst her colorful teammates.

But with the good, also came the bad.

Once such example was another girl who had been thrown in the conflict along with him. Miko, a spirited and cheerful exchange student from Japan. With a attitude more suiting a hyperactive dog, Miko practically threw herself into the conflict the moment she had the chance. In fact, one could say she literally forced herself into the equation, having popped up the moment Jack and Arcee were having their first face to face conversation. It was a moment no one saw coming, and practically defined the girls role in the team.

Active, goofy, and on a nearly constant energy rush, Miko was partnered with the oddly ironic partner of Bulkhead, the team's heavy hitter and muscle of the group. Looking at them, one could guess that the duo had nothing in common but the opposite was actually true. While Jack and Arcee were more realistic and calm, Miko and Bulkhead shared a love for beating the scrap out of any poor sap that found themselves in the wrong place at an even worse time...and enjoying the occasional monster truck show.

Miko was so excitable in fact, that it was that very trait that had landed her and Jack in such a rather inconvenient situation in the first place. A situation that Jack really found himself truly loathing.

Due to Miko's habit of never standing still for too long, the girl had the nasty habit of sneaking off after the Autobots whenever they headed out on a dangerous mission. It was dangerous and something nearly everyone chastised the girl for but she nearly never learned her lesson. And as a result, someone commonly had to ran off after the girl in a futile attempt to bring her back to the Autobot's base.

And normally, that person was Jack.

That very reason was also why the two teenagers were currently stuck in the middle of a battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons. A sudden discovery of a plentiful stash of Energon had sparked both forces into trying to claim it, thus resulting in their skirmish. Such a mission wasn't normally that much trouble for the Autobots, Vehicons were rarely a dangerous threat. They were foot soldiers, grunts in the Decepticon War machine.

But for humans, especially their teenaged allies? It was utterly insane. For while the pair were safely hidden behind a bunch of rocks, they were still in a fairly dangerous situation for someone their size.

A fact that Miko was seemingly oblivious to.

Miko waved off the boy's aggravated shouts, "Ah, stop worrying. Just enjoy the show!"

"And besides you didn't have to come!"

A low, aggravated growl escaped the teen, "Oh right. And who would be here to make sure you didn't get yourself killed?"

Miko said nothing, likely paying little attention to anything he had said. Instead, she grinned and watched as the bots fought against the swarm of Vehicons. Bulkhead slamming one into the ground with his mace, Optimus skillfully blasting one by one with his blasters, and Arcee slicing and dicing the Decepticons down to size with her blades. In truth, it was a show Jack tired not to focus on all that much. Watching their friend fight while they did nothing wasn't what he would call a 'show' of any kind.

And the fact that he and Miko were a tad bit too close for comfort just seemed to be the icing on the cake.

Icing that proved to be just as sour as he had imagined just seconds later. A mere few yards away from where the pair sat, a lone Vehicon jumped down from the top of the canyon and tackled one of the bots. Its clawed servo grabbed onto the scout of the team, Bumblebee and slammed him helm first into the ground, dazing the bot as the ground itself shattered beneath them. Rocks and dirt sprang up as the bot fell and sprayed dust, sand, and stones across the area, including where the two teens had hidden themselves.

"Still enjoying the show, Miko?" Jack grumbled, feeling a few rocks bounce off his head.

Popping her head back up, Miko nearly squeed with excitement, "Are you kidding!? That was awesome!"

Giving the girl a deadpan look, Jack dropped his arms in defeat. It was hopeless, that was the truth of the matter. It would take something drastic for Miko to realize the situation they were in, and given everything they had gone through already, that wasn't all that likely.

Or at least, it was unlikely until something did happen, something neither teen was prepared for. The Vehicon who had caught Bumblebee by surprised reached down to grab the bot's helm. Its opposite hand transformed into a blaster and revved up, charging up to end the boy's life. But as it pulled the dazed scout to his feet, something caught its optics.

The Decepticon turned its helm and dropped Bumblebee, allowing the bot to slam back into the ground. Its thin, 'V' of an optic glanced over its surroundings, silently scanning everything for a few sharp seconds. For a moment, it saw nothing but stone, nothing but the same brown rocks on each side...

Until it froze, its optic stopped dead on one spot. The spot Miko and Jack had made their hiding spot.

"Um...Miko?" Jack muttered, fidgeting at the sight of the Con's red optic, "...still think this is a nice show?"

The girl was silent. She wasn't laughing, chuckling, or even smirking anymore. All the laughter she had, th excitement that had been driving her own slowly vanished, leaving the girl dumbstruck as the Vehicon took a step in their direction with its blaster raised.

Unlike the other Cons, Vehicons rarely took the time to savor their kill. Instead, they simply did their job and that was it. They were basically drones, machines that lacked most higher functions. And as a result, they sometimes lacked emotions too. This made them into lousy conservationists, but cold and ruthless killers.

Ones that wouldn't even flinch when it came to utterly decimating a defenseless human.

But of the humans in question, Jack wasn't going to just stand there and watch his friend get atomized by a towering Decepticon. The sight of the Con utterly intimidated him like a colossal monster rising up to devour them. But the very second he heard its blast power up, and toward Miko, intimidation seemed like the last thing on his mind

"Miko!" he screamed, leaping forward.

Not waiting for the worst to occur, Jack snapped into action and grabbed Miko by the shoulders. With her in hand, the two teens jumped out of the monster's path, Jack literally dragging Miko along before ducking behind a nearby bolder. As seconds moved by though, time seemed to slow down. Energy blasts exploded forth from the Con's weapon, thunderously exploding against the ground below.

But somehow, with every step he took, Jack seemed to be ahead of the blasts, narrowly avoiding each as they struck home.

Unfotunately, the ground wasn't so lucky. Each spot a blast hit exploded into shards of burn dirt, flying everywhere as result of the explosion. They rained down behind the two teens as they ducked behind a nearby boulder, using it as cover from the Con's barrage.

Once safe, if for the moment, Jack released Miko and allowed them a moment of peace. Though in Miko's case, she simply gawked at Jack with surprise, "Dude, what was that?"

Regardless of her question, Jack said nothing. Instead of replying, he found himself focused with another matter. Perhaps a piece of dirt had flung itself into his eyes, or maybe some sand from the desert, but either way, an eclipse of pain had taken hold of the boy's eyes, blinding him for a moment and leaving him unaware of Miko's questions.

Of course, that didn't stop her from asking it again, though louder this time, "Jack!?"

"What?!" the teen snapped, still rubbing his eyes, "What is it Miko!?"

Caught off god by the boy's angered tone, Miko shook her head and grinned wildly at him, "Dude! What was all of that?! How did you move so fast? How did you dodge those blasts!? That was awesome!"

Still amidst rubbing his eyes, Jack sent the girl a bewildered look, "What? What are you talking about?"

Miko nearly began her barrage of questions again, her excitement nearly coming to a boiling point once again. Thankfully though, the girl manged to first caught notice of how furiously he was rubbing his face. Her wonder taking a back seat for a moment, Miko leaned fowrad with a frown, "Hey, You alright?"

Blinking, Jack shook his head and covered his eyes. The combination of the sudden pain, his aggravated rubbing, and the combination of Miko now fussing over him just made the situation worse and worse. In fact, with the sun shining down overhead, Jack was starting to wonder if something was out to get him.

"Yeah..." he muttered, taking a moment to calm himself down, "Why? Whats wrong?"

The girl squinted her eyes and inspected the teen's face, "You're eyes seem a bit red...you get some sand in them or something?"

Jack stopped for a moment and blinked. Still, he then shook his head and waved off the girl's concern, "I'm fine, its...nothing."

Miko sent the teen a questioning glance but time it seemed, wasn't in the mood for anymore questions. For a single word could escape either of the pair, the massive boulder the duo had taken as shelter suddenly exploded, sending both teens staggering backwards. Looking up, Jack and Miko froze the same Vehicon from earlier loomed over them. It glared down at the teens and readied its blaster once again, not intending to miss this time.

Jack tensed up and quickly ran in front of Miko, a last ditch effort to save the girl before they both were annihilated. But anything could occur, the Vehicon was quickly knocked off its feet, courtesy of a familiar scout's fist.

During the distraction, Bumblebee shook himself from his daze and leaped back onto his treads. His processor now clear once again, the Scout turned to the Vehicon and saw the two teens. He was surprised to see them there of course, but had little time to react. So without missing a beat, Bee charged the Con and slammed his servo into the drone's face.

The impact caught the Con off balance, leaving it fumbling for a split moment. Bee then reached forward and slammed both of his fists into Drone's helm, dazing the machine even more. But Bee was not done. He grabbed the Decepticon with one of his hands, pulled his arm back, and with a powerful shove, he smashed the Vehicon's head against the nearest rock-face, crushing its entire head into scrap with a painful crunch.

Going limp, Bumblebee tossed the Decepticon over his shoulder. It smashed lifeless into the ground as Bee turned his attention to the two teens.

"Thanks Bee, that was a close one." Jack thanked the scout while amidst rubbing his eye.

Finally noticing the two, Bumblebee waved off the boy's thanks. Instead, the scout narrowed his optics and began chastising the two, not even caring that they couldn't understand him. Beeps or not, it didn't take someone like Raf to know when Bee was angry, as both Jack and Miko soon found out. He was upset, more than justified about it too considering where they were.

Jack grumbled annoyingly and pointed at Miko, "You guys really need to set up Miko proof fences for the Ground Bridge."

"Hey!"

Upon discovering that, Bumblebee glared disappointingly at the girl. It didn't take a genius to know what had happened. Although, he did wish that Miko would learn to not follow them everything a fight was concerned. She could get herself (and those who tried to save her) in a load of danger by doing something so foolish.

In fact, the very Vehicon that Bumblebee just off-lined was a good example of that.

Still, the Scout didn't have time to lecture the girl on her antics (his version of a lecture at least). There was still plenty of Decepticons around and Bee knew that his comrades needed his help. So before he ran off to assist them, Bumblebee gave the duo a stern look and told them (in his own personal way) to stay put until he returned.

Jack and Miko didn't bother to question his order and merely sat behind the remains of their hiding place, watching silently as the bots fought against the dwindling supply of Vehicons. In fact, the battle didn't last too much long. But as it winded down, Jack decided to take a seat and rest for the moment. The two teens had been through one hell of a close call after all, and Jack decided to use the moment of peace to catch his breath.

However, it seemed to be a rest that wouldn't last. For the moment Jack sat down, Miko turned her attention back to the teen and give him a concerned glance, "You sure you're okay?"

Jack glanced at Miko and casually shrugged, "Yeah, I'm sure. All this excitement just got me...worked up is all."

"Hm..." Miko frowned, slightly unconvinced. Call her suspicious, given everything that had happened, but Miko couldn't resist. However, the girl's attention span was like a rubber band, and the moment she spotted Bulkhead crush a Vehicon flat with his mace, it bounced off Jack and shot directly toward that awesome sight instead.

Jack, for the first moment of his life, could say that he was quite thankful towards the girl's short attention span. It wasn't something he had ever expected himself to feel, but the moment of peace was nice. Even if he still found himself rubbing his eyes irritatingly.

_'Stupid things.'_ he muttered, wishing he had a big tub of water to dunk his head into.

The focus on his physical condition aside, the battle slowly began to wind down without much trouble. The Vehicons had started the battle with numerous numbers, easily outdoing the bots in that front. But with their experience and weapons, the Autobots had little trouble with dealing with them all. In fact, the last of Megatron's forces dwindled to nothing in a matter of moments, with Arcee beheading the very last with barely a hint of effort.

But once the Cons were taken care of and the Energon secured, one little issue arose for the rest of the Autobots, something they hadn't been aware of throughout most of the battle.

"Um..hi guys." Jack awkwardly greeted the group.

Despite his greeting and the small smile he was giving the bots, Jack and Miko had little to deter the disappointed looks thrown their way.

"Children..."

They were in so much trouble.

* * *

_The Darby Residence:_

And in trouble, they were.

The moment Jack and Miko were returned to base, they were subjected to quite a talking from the bots. They were disappointed in the two kids and their antics, even if Jack had only been there to make sure Miko was alright. But despite his intentions, Jack wasn't saved from the disappointed look his partner had gave him.

Still, it wasn't so bad for the most part. After all, the incident wasn't even close to being the first time Miko had done such a thing. It was actually becoming somewhat of a common thing for the girl. Even if it got on nearly everyone's nerves. Especially since they rarely could catch her before she could run through the Ground Bridges.

With that little issue aside though, the teens soon found themselves heading home after the bots returned from their energon hunt.

Despite knowing of the bots themselves, the teens had kept the existence of their robot friends a secret from their families.

As a result, the teens commonly had to return home before their families could question them about it. Sure, they commonly asked about where they were, but Jack and the others normally had an excuse they could use to explain where they had been/ For example, Jack commonly told his mother than he was with a 'Science Club', and used that to explain his absence after school.

It was a risky excuse for Jack though, for his mother was not one to take excuses that lightly.

Jack's mother, June Darby was a very stern and protective mother when it came to her only son. The two lived by themselves and the mother and son were all the two had in the world. And due to that, June often worried about her little boy and wanted to know if he was okay. Such a worrisome complex was mainly why Jack hadn't told his mother about the bots yet.

Really, how would a mother like June react to the news that her son commonly hanged out with giant robots?

Nothing good would come from it, thats for sure.

So because of that, Jack had done his best to keep his extraterrestrial friends a secret. And so far, it had actually worked out quite well. There were some close calls for certain, but other than that he and Arcee had done quite well in that department.

And luckily, it seemed to work that day as well. Jack parked Arcee inside his family's garage, said goodnight to the femme and entered his house. From there, the teen was greeted by the sight he had grown up with. After all, Jack and his mother had lived in the same house for several years now.

"Jack?" a voice called from the kitchen, "That you?"

Letting out a small sigh, Jack rubbed his eyes and walked toward the source of the voice. The kitchen wasn't all that big, but it was enough for both Jack and his mother. And thats where he found the woman in question.

It was almost a surprise to find her home so early, but Jack wasn't in that much of a mood to complain, "Yeah, mom its me."

June was standing by the sink, doing some dishes the moment Jack walked in. She stood not that much taller than her son, but just enough to tease him about it when the time came. Even while washing the dishes, she still had her nurse's outfit on from her job at the hospital. Though, that was no surprise really.

June wore the outfit so much that Jack often joked that it was the only thing she had to wear.

Of course, such a comment often resulted in June shooting back with a quip of her own. Even so, Jack rarely regretted it, most of the time. His mother knew more than a few ways to make him squirm when she wanted to, so he had to be careful. Embarrassing comments were only a dip in the bucket of things June could say that would make her son fall in line at the drop of a hat. Anything worse, and Jack would gladly blush instead of whatever else his mother could come up with.

"Good," June smiled, taking her eyes off the dishes for a moment, "Anything interesting happen today?"

Jack's thoughts immediately went the unfortunate incident that involved a Vehicon and Miko, but he quickly shook them away, "Eh, nothing really. Just a normal day for the most part. What about you?"

"Oh, about the same really." June shrugged, "Got off a little early from the hospital. But other than that, it was rather bleh."

Bleh was actually a good way of describing June's days more often than not. Caring for Jack, dealing with an overbearing job at the hospital often made it amazing for her to have a day that was anything beyond 'bleh'. And considering how often her job normally kept his mother away from the house, Jack couldn't disagree. Even the assistance of himself getting a job rarely helped, regardless of the buckets of thanks she gave him whenever the matter reared itself.

Yet another reason though as to why Jack hadn't ever brought up the subject of the Autobots or their war with his mother. After all, piling on the fact that she had a stressful job with the news that her son was helping a race who were in the middle of a intergalactic war? Oh, how could anything bad come from that?

It was something that even made Jack shutter upon thinking about it, _'Oh, thats just a headache waiting to happen.'_

"Jack?"

The teen snapped out of his thoughts just in time to notice his mother walking over, still wiping her hands clean from the dishes.

"You still there? You just...blanked out for a second there." she asked, a concerned expression on her face.

Blinking, Jack let out a small chuckle and shook his head. Seconds before the words left him however, something beat the boy to the punch. His eyes flared up with a sudden pain, as if someone had poked him right out of the blue. In a bizarre way, one could compare it to how his eyes felt back in the desert, only without the excuse of sand to explain it.

Quickly, the teen looked away and rubbed his eyes in an attempt to dull the pain.

"Jack? You okay?" June asked, moving around to face her son, "Is there something wrong?"

Even without her son suddenly cringing in pain, June had a feeling something was up. If there was one thing that June could do, picking past her boy's little attempts to hide the truth was quite the running up for that.. Call it, mother's intuition if you will. An innate feeling of something being up.

Prying aside however, Jack waved off his mother and her attempts., "Its nothing mom, just been a long day."

"You sure?" she insisted, "If somethings wrong, you can tell me, Jack."

Whilst still rubbing his eyes, Jack smiled, even if it was just the ghost of one. Biting back the pain, he turned to June and gave her the most sincere expression he had, "I'm fine. I promise."

After a second of looking at him, June seemed to buy this, but only slightly, "Alright...if you say so."

Leaning forward, June gently kissed her son on the forehead and ruffled his hair before letting him go off to do his own thing. She patted the boy off towards his room, where she had a feeling he was heading to anyway. If anything, Jack looked tired, and his bed surely looked inviting.

But seconds before he reached his room, June called down the hall toward the boy, "Dinner will be in a little bit honey! I'll call you when its ready!"

"Alright." Jack muttered, not entirely sure how good that sounded. Sure he was hungry, but when it came to his mother's dinner? It was often a flip up, either a blessing or a curse for his poor stomach.

Biting back such memories of horrific dinners of the past, Jack steeled himself and slipped inside his room.

The teen's room was a fairly normal looking for the most part. It was big enough for one person and held what little personal things that he had, which wasn't much. Such a thing didn't bother Jack though. Whatever the teen had, it was more than enough for him. At the moment however, all Jack really wanted was his bed. After such an hard day, the teen was more than ready to just plop onto his mattress and fall asleep for as long as he could.

As he walked over to said bed though, one of Jack's eyes caught sight of a nearby mirror and looked into it. Just seeing his face earned a sigh from the boy and forced him closer to the mirror. From there, Jack swallowed his luck and looked on, examining his face and his eyes.

The boy himself looked fine, nothing out of place. Scruffy hair, plan clothes. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on that regard. There was only one part of Jack that caught the boy's attention, one little detail that seemed out of place on his entire body. His eyes.

Merely glancing at the orbs caused Jack to bite his lip. Instead of the blue eyes he had been given when he was born, Jack saw a pair crimson orbs with a strange 'comma' (more commonly known as a 'tomoe') circling his pupils.

"What...is this?" he muttered, forcing his eyes open regardless of the stinging sensation he felt.

As far as he could remember, several years or maybe more, a bizarre transformation had come and gone in Jack's case. He wasn't sure why or how, but his eyes would...change for some reason. It would always be accompanied by a powerful stinging sensation (almost like someone was poking him in the eyes constantly) and strange enough as it was, the pain wasn't the only thing that would follow this change in his eyes.

How Jack could see things, experience things, and even how he moved in reaction to things, all became enhanced. It was like his perception had been slowed down to a unfathomable degree, reducing everything to slow motion. In even worse cases though, Jack had sworn he had seen things before they had happened, like a flash of what was to come appeared before it had truely happened, such as the Vehicon that very day, blasting at both Jack and Miko while they cowered in fear.

Much to Jack's irritation, he couldn't in all honestly deny the uses such perception could grant. Heck, in a different situation Jack might of even appreciated such abilities. They could surely do some good, especially involving helping the boy and his given the circumstances, Jack couldn't smile whenever they changed.

Whatever it was, some mutation or bizarre trait in his genes, something felt...wrong.

Jack had never heard of such a thing happening to someone. There were no medical explanation for them, and the pain always returned no matter the reason behind it. Overall, his eyes seemed like a strange phenomenon, something he couldn't validate with anything that made sense.

"And Mom said it was just because I was watching too TV..." he muttered, letting out a soft groan before rubbing his face.

The strange transformation had been happening ever since Jack was rather young, even when he was merely a toddler, or at least it had to his knowledge. As with how it could happen, the teen found himself clueless to their origin as well, leaving him confused and frustrated. One could even wonder how he hadn't just adjusted to the experience after so many years of dealing with it.

But oh, Jack tried. He had tried so very hard. But no matter what, it continued to rear its ugly head, even growing more common in the recent weeks.

At first, he merely brushed it off as some kind of stress. Meeting the Autobots and being involved in their matters could drive anyone up the wall.

Even now, he could feel his eyes...change. A subtle twitch, a small warmth gripping his eyes, and it disturbed him. Whatever was going on, it wasn't natural, at least in Jack's opinion. No matter what was causing his eyes to change, he simply wanted it to stop. His parents didn't even have anything going on with their eyes! It was just Jack, he was alone on this front.

And because it was just him, whenever Jack's eyes changed...well, he felt like a freak.

When he was younger, the boy had little to no control over it. Just randomly, his eyes would shift, transforming into his blue eyes into red orbs. In time, concentration had led to to a small semblance of control, but it did little to help. No matter what the reason, with Jack's consent or not, his eyes changed and fed the boy's discomfort. They made him feel...unnatural.

Sure, his mother had told him that he wasn't (she practically drilled it into his head when he was younger), but considering that Jack didn't know anyone else who had a similar condition...

Well, he couldn't help it. He felt like a freak, and despised every-time his natural blue eyes changed into their crimson form.

Regardless, Jack pushed his away from the mirror and sighed. The development wasn't new, it wasn't even close to being such. For as long as Jack could remember, his eyes always appeared in such condition. It was more like a minor annoyance than a serious problem.

"Whatever."

With his attention averted, Jack pushed his away from the mirror and moved towards his bed. He was tired, he was weary, and he didn't want to deal with his eyes anymore. All Jack wanted to do for the moment, at least until his mother woke him up for dinner, was to sleep.

So with that in mind, Jack walked over and sat down on his bed before laying back onto his pillow. He wanted to forget about his eyes for the moment and simply dream about something else...

Although, the dream he did have was not what he had been thinking of when it came to a nice, calm, rest.

In truth, it was nearly the exact opposite of that.

* * *

_Unknown location:_

_Within Jack's dream, all he could see was darkness for a time. Nothing but an endless void. But after several seconds silence, this darkness gave way to something bright...and brown._

_Then, all the boy could see, was a desert._

_A massive, impossibly large desert. One that spanned several miles into each distance. No matter how far someone could look into such a vast wasteland, the desert and its vast sands were all one could see for miles. Along with the sand though, there was other things that dotted the landscape. Some of these obstructions were massive stone towers, all of which looked to be naturally formed. And the sky itself was blue with clouds spanning for several leagues._

_Standing within this massive desert however, was a massive group of people. A hundred at least, two or three at most, all wearing attire made up of flak jackets, uniforms of varying colors, and strange headbands attached to their foreheads. Along with these people however, there were even stranger individuals such as a crimson haired youth with a massive gourd on his back, a small balding old man in a cloak, and some strange blonde haired boy in orange._

_But despite all of these strange individuals, two more stood high above them all, overlooking them from a nearby rock formation._

_One of these figures was a man dressed with his entire body covered in bandages. He wore pair of black pants and a headband too, but that was it in regards to his clothes. Bandages covered nearly all of his entire person, with only a small portion of his face being untouched. Due to this absence, the man's were visible to a certain extent. _

_Eyes that were nearly completely black except for a lifeless Iris and Pupil at their center._

_Next to the bandaged man however, was someone who looked far more intimidating. He stood several steps to the right, standing a height and statue to his counterpart. But that was were the similarities ended, for this man's attire bore little to no resemblance to anything the others wore.  
_

_Instead of the bandages or the uniforms, this man covered himself in a large set of maroon armor with numerous metal plates that formed protective guards along his chest, waist, shoulders and thighs. Underneath such armor was also a more comfortable looking set of clothes; a black high-collared, long sleeve mantle that was split in half lower down, a light-brown obi and a belt. The man also wore a pair of gloves and sandals along with some bandages covering his lower legs._

_Along with his attire though, the man also had waist-length black hair with shoulder-length bangs framing the sides of his face, covering most of his right eye. The man's face was also fairly young looking too (aside from strange cracks), with one of the only signs of his age being a pair of prominent creases having developed under each of his eyes.  
_

_Speaking of his eyes though, this stranger had similar eyes to the bandaged man. They were completely black, with the only untouched part being the iris and the pupil. But unlike the bandaged man's, these eyes were anything but lifeless._

_The eyes that belonged to this man were crimson red, the color of blood. They had a thick black outline and had three 'tomoes' circling the center of the eyes. But this startling and bizarre appearance wasn't the only noticeable trait this man's eyes possessed. For if one person simple glanced at the man's eyes, they would feel a unmistakeable truth... _

_The eyes also oozed power. Refined, and utterly concentrated power._

"_Your reanimation is quite special." the bandaged man spoke, his voice holding a sly and sneaky tone that did not fit well with the man's appearance, _"_I fixed you up so you're even greater than you were in your glory days."_

_The raven haired man straightened up and gave the other a narrowed glare, "You know what I was like during my 'glory' days?"_

"_No." the other man responded, closing his eyes and shaking his head, _"_Which is why I want you to show me...your legendary Uchiha power."_

_A scoff was the man's reply. The mere idea of returning just so he could witness his power was a both a bit insulting and flattering. _

_Seconds before the man could respond, the duo quickly leaped off the platform before a massive wave of sand overtook them. It was like a massive hand, trying to grab the two before they could even react. Unfortunately for the hand however, the pair were much too quick for such an underhanded move._

_For example, the bandaged man avoided the mass of sand by leaping into the air whiled his red eyed associate dropped down to the ground below. Even while falling several feet though, the man landed without any trouble.  
_

_Once safely away from the sand, the man with the crimson eyes turned his focus on the horde standing opposite of him and his associate. Through his eyes, the man say their stature, the tense positions of their bodies. Many held weapons such as swords, knives, explosive tags, sealing tags, and many other methods of killing. _

_They were shinobi, each prepared to fight and die. And every single one of them had just made one very grievous mistake._

_They had made the mistake of attacking him, and now they had his attention.  
_

"_Very well…"_

_From then on, the man charged. His movements were slow at first, like a casual stroll. But once the horde of shinobi charged, screaming their war cries, the man picked up his pace. Soon enough, the sight that filled the desert was that of a single man charging toward an entire army, armed with nothing against their weapons and numbers. But despite the odds that were staring the man straight in the face, no concern was seen in his eyes. _

_They could bring their numbers, their weapons, their techniques. They could bring monsters, juggernauts, and beasts of a different breed.  
_

_Everything the man saw, he knew it would not be enough. He clenched his hands as the two sides grew closer, the army running into the face of something they could not be prepared for._

_The man known as, Madara Uchiha._

* * *

Notes:

-At the moment, this is more of an experimental idea. I want to see people's opinions concerning this idea and if its positive, I'll likely continue this.

-Just to tell people right here and now, do not be requesting requests with any women from Naruto when it comes to pairings. This story is not going to have a unholy number of Naruto characters in it, so don't expect to see numerous characters from Naruto showing up. And the ones that are in it, will likely be modified slightly to work in TF: Prime

-I will also be avoiding explaining what happened at the end of Naruto. I will do this so I can avoid making the series seem too connected, and so it won't seem strange if my explanation is different from what will truly happen in the series.

-If you have any questions regarding this story or what might happen, please either leave it in a review or PM me. But I must stress the fact that if you're a guest reviewer, please don't expect replies to your questions. I won't be wasting time in a chapter to answer those questions and I won't spoil things for others by answering them in public.

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._


	2. Unintentional Illusions

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, Viz Media, and Shonen Jump.  
Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro.

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._

* * *

_Chapter: Unintentional Illusions.  
_

* * *

_It took place within a room, one of small size and simplicity.  
_

_A little toddler, less than a few years old. He was playing in his room, off in his own little world. Of course, his mother was with him as well, sitting just a foot or two away from the boy. She was smiling, watching him play with the toys he had, even if he wasn't all that are of her himself.  
_

_ Instead, the little boy was busy looking at several toys, all of were sitting around him like they had been lined up for him. They ranged from things like teddy bears, trucks, and even a few blocks. All of them were nice and colorful, something that made the toddler let out a little cheer at._

_The little toddler cheered at that and nodded, a small giggle escaping from him._

_But as his mother grinned widely at him, the toddler gazed off to the side and spotted something._

_Right next to a set of building blocks, the toddler noticed something just underneath the pile of plastic bricks. Something red with a black outline. In truth, the item in question was a small paper fan, something that had been buried underneath some of the other toys that surrounded the tot. But with the curiosity that came with being a toddler, the little boy couldn't resist. So as such, he then crawled over to the strange toy and picked it up._

_Upon picking it up though, June looked over at her son and giggled at what he had found, "Aw, whatcha got there?"_

_Turning back to the woman, the toddler lifted the toy up for all to see. And once she did see it, June smiled at her son's little discovery, "Hey, thats a pinwheel!"_

_June reached over and gently took the pinwheel from her son. Then, she calmly held the paper fan in front of his face and smiled at him, "You know what this is? Huh, honey? Well, watch what happens when I do...this!"_

_The little toddler watched intently as his mother brushed one of her fingers over the fan's sides. Then, with a small bit of pressure, June sent one of the pinwheel's edges spiraling. That little motion caused the red little fan to go spinning, spinning so fast that the original shape of the fan couldn't be seen anymore. Instead, all the little boy could see was the spinning, red circle.  
_

_A circle with a few black lines spiraling around its black center._

_He almost seemed entranced by the strange contraption, his little eyes following its every motion. After all, it could be said that children were easily distracted by bright and colorful things, and the fan surely counted in that department._

_But as the seconds passed by...something, strange happened._

_It happened in an instant, while the little boy was just sitting there. But then, just out of nowhere, he just stopped. Stopped smiling, stopped giggling, and his eyes even started to tremble. It took June a moment to notice this but before she could say anything, her son started to cry. Well, it wasn't just crying. He was wailing, with his eyes suddenly snapping shut as tears started to slide down his eyes..._

_Tears that seemed a bit too...red than they should have been._

_"Jack?" his mother asked, growing quite alarmed. She even dropped the pinwheel to the ground and rushed over to her baby's side. But despite her comfort, the toddler didn't stop crying. _

_In fact, his crying only started to get worse. It was like he was in pain, a excruciating pain for someone so young. And the mere fact that the tears that were flowing out of his eyes weren't tears at all didn't help. Even June could tell what was pouring down her son's chubby little cheeks.  
_

_Blood. Tears of blood were running down the toddler's face.  
_

_"Oh, honey its alright, its alright..." June cooed, trying to calm the young boy down. But with the red tears still flowing without stop, even June's calming words had little effect on the toddler. So much so, that even June herself was having a hard time remaining calm at the sight of what was happening. _

_"Oh, oh god. Robert! Call the doctor! CALL the Hospital!"_

_A muffled yell could be heard just outside the toddler's room, but it was barley able to make it over the infant's crying. It had grown so loud and so pained, that June's own eyes widened. She tried to pick the boy up in a attempt to rock him into a calmer state but like before, it resulted in no results. In the end, all June could do was hold him there, whispering gentle words into the toddler's ears.  
_

_"Come on honey, its all right...Jack, its okay. Mommy's here..."  
_

_"Its okay...just...hang in there..."_

_"Jack..."_

_"Jack..!?"_

_"JACK!?"_

* * *

Deep within a lone house in the middle of a city that seemed far too out of the way for its own good, a young teen suddenly gasped before sitting up. With his lungs feeling as if they had been sucked dry, Jack kicked the covers off his feet and grabbed at his eyes...

"My-!"

While touching his skin, Jack could feel his hands tremble like he had been sacred out of his wits. But despite such a bone chilling sensation, the teen let out a sigh once he felt nothing but the sweat across his face. And with that fact surely in his mind, Jack let out another sigh and dropped his hands.

Even with that little fact quite clear to him though, Jack just sat still for a few moments, his lungs feeling as if they were burning from the inside out. For while his fears had been put to rest, the boy's body wasn't as calm as he needed it to be.

His body was chilled, caked in sweat along with his trembling nerves too. Everything felt so disorienting too, making it almost impossible for him to tell if he was awake or not. But after a second or two of breathing steadily, the teen let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead.

"A...a dream." he muttered, "It...was just a dream."

Once he was certain of that though, Jack looked up and examined the state of his room. The bedroom was still covered in a thick coat of darkness, with nothing visible except for a few noticeable shapes in the distance. Such darkness easily told the boy that his dream had woken him up a bit too early, meaning that he had accidentally beaten his alarm clock to the punch...

Again.

But before the teen could sit back and try to drift off into slumber land once more, something on the other side of his room caught his attention.

Far across the bedroom was a small light, something that was far too small to be a night-light or anything similar. Instead, what Jack saw was a pair of almost unnoticeable red dots, both of which were floating a few feet away from his bed.

"Wha…?" he muttered, narrowing his gaze at the strange light.

But upon closer examination, Jack let out an aggravated groan when he realized what the lights were. For upon taking a closer look, Jack realized that he was staring at his mirror. And the two 'dots' he was looking at?

They were his eyes, glowing ominously in the dark.

He discovered this upon covering one of his eyes and noticing that one of the 'dots' vanished as a result. Of course though, this only could mean one thing for Jack. Even while he was asleep, his eyes had changed…again.

Another small characteristic that Jack had discovered about his eyes while he was young was the fact that when they 'changed', his eyes often glowed in the dark. Sure, it wasn't anything seriously noticeable, but within a darkened room and a mirror nearby? It was something that defiantly scared the boy when he first discovered such a trait.

It didn't scare him anymore thankfully, but it did make his head hurt whenever he noticed it. The pain from his eyes wasn't even the main source of his irritation though. That came from time his clock currently read.

**-4:37am-**

"Oh, come on…"

Tossing his arms up into the air, Jack let out a frustrated mutter and fell back onto his bed. He could already feel his eyes stinging again, and it wasn't even time for him to get ready for school yet! The teen still had one or two hours until his normal wake up time!

"So unfair." he grumbled, already feeling as if the day had gotten off on a rotten start.

Still, there was one thing Jack could hope for.

At least it couldn't get any worse from there…right?

* * *

_-Later,The Autobot's base-_

* * *

"Come on Jack, just do it again!" Miko whined at the boy, something she had been doing for quite some time now.

Jack though, he just sighed and crossed his arms before leaning back against the sofa, "Miko seriously? I'm not in the mood, so can we just...not and say we did?"

"Nope!"

Shortly after the trio of kids and their guardians returned to the Autobot's base, the two groups quickly separated with the bots heading off to do their respective duties while the children all gathered around the designated area. Such a place included a nice couch that Bumblebee had found (no one really wanted to ask where) and a small Television the kids could entertain themselves with. But even though they had such a device and their homework, Miko had something else she wanted to try out.

Even if it truly pushed Jack's buttons (especially due to his tired demeanor).

"I still don't get it." Raf, the youngest and most calm of the trio asked his friends, still fairly of the loop. For Raf was the only one of the teens who hadn't been at the Autobot's previous skirmish with the Decepticons, and so he had no idea what Miko was talking about.

Unfortunately for him though, she was more than willing to explain.

"Raf, it was awesome!" Miko excitingly told the boy, "There was this huge Con standing over me and Jack, about to slag us! But right before it had the change to blow us to bits -BAM!- Jack grabbed me and dodged everyone of its shots! It was awesome!"

Jack scoffed at the girl's exaggeration, "Come on, it was just luck! Seriously, you're making a big deal out of nothing."

"Nothing my butt!" Miko responded with a pout, "Now come on Jack! Just let me-"

Before Miko even got the chance to finish her sentence, Jack crossed his arms and shook his head, "No way Miko. We get enough balls thrown at us in Gym, so I'd rather go the rest of the day without having another one come even close."

School itself had been fairly tame for the most part, much to Jack's fortunate for one. There had been only a few bumps in the road, such as the utterly mind numbingly boring classes and a few students being their obnoxious selves. Although, Gym had been a pleasant surprise for the most part. Not only had they played dodge-ball for once, but Jack even manged to clobber Vince too!

His eyes had been an unfortunate (in Jack's opinion) advantage in that, but overall, not too bad of a day actually.

Although, such a day did help contribute to the present situation. After seeing Jack somehow being a bit too active on his feet while in Gym, Miko came up with a little 'plan'. A 'plan' that involved borrowing one of the same dodge-balls they had used during Gym and bringing it to the bot's base along with her. It was was all in the harebrained idea that Jack MIGHT be able to dodge it in a similar manner as he had back with the Vehicon (or even the dodge-balls back during Gym).

Of course, that would only happen if he DID catch it and not...well, get smacked upside the head with a damn dodge-ball. Miko was certain that such an outcome wouldn't happen. But Jack was a bit more reserved, especially since it concerned his noggin.

"Come on!" the girl tried again, almost on the borderline of whining, "Just once!"

"No."

"Please!?"

"No."

"Come on! Don't be a wimp!"

"No."

"Just once! Please!"

Shaking his head venomously, Jack crossed his arms and gave the girl a stern look, "No, Miko. And besides, I know you're going to do it. How do you suspect this is going to work at all if I know its coming?"

The exchange student opened her mouth to responded to that, but she quickly stopped when she actually thought about it, "Um..."

While the teen fumbled around with the idea of how she was going to pull her little stunt off, Jack turned to Raf with a small smile on his face. He kept the corner of his eyes on Miko to be sure, but he wasn't really worried. It was no surprise that Miko often acted on ideas before she had completely thought them out, and this was no different.

"So," Jack asked the younger teen, wanting to change the subject before Miko could come up with anything, "How was your day, Raf?"

"Oh, um..." Raf mumbled, "Well, it was-"

**-THAWK-**

Before Raf could finish his sentence, he was caught off guard when something red and large flashed by the boys eyes. Such a sensation confused the teen for a second or two before he finally found his senses again. Once his mind caught up with his eyesight though, Raf was greeted with the scene of Jack holding the ball just a few inches away from his head.

The same ball Miko had been holding seconds prior to that.

"Seriously, Miko. Don't do that." Jack muttered before tossing the ball back to the girl.

To her credit though, Miko merely let chuckled at the boy's tone and shrugged, "Hey, it seemed to be a good time to try."

Letting out a small scoff, Jack tossed the ball away while Miko turned her attention toward Raf, a excited look still present of the girl's face, "See Raf! See how cool that was!?"

"Um..." the boy muttered, not really sure how to react to such a display, "I..guess?"

Raf didn't really see what the big deal was. Sure, Jack had caught the ball with a impressive display of reflexes, but was that really so impressive? Surely other people could do something similar if they were in such a position. In fact, Miko should have been happy that Jack didn't just smack the ball back at her face instead of catching it like he had.

Despite the girl relishing in the fact that Jack had caught the ball without even batting an eyelash, the teen himself was even less impressed, "Miko, really? It was just a ball. Its not like I dodged a bullet or something. You're totally making a big deal out of nothing."

Such a comment easily snapped the girl out of her excitement. And upon seeing that Raf actually agreed with the boy's opinion on the matter, Miko merely huffed and crossed her arms at the pair, "Well, it was a lot cooler when a Con was shooting at us."

"I'm sure."

Once the girl's little 'demonstration' finished however, the teens and the rest of the base slowly drifted off into a state of peace that they rarely ever got to enjoy recently. For whenever the bots and their guests didn't have something to do, some kind of trouble normally found them at the worst possible moment. But despite that, it actually seemed as if the base would be quite peaceful for the rest of the day-

"Optimus, we're receiving a communication," Ratchet grunted, "And...its from Agent Fowler."

An audible groan escaped from a few of the present Autobots, the mention of that man's name was starting to become a massive headache for the crew.

"What does he want now?" Bulkhead grumbled, "Did he bust up another one of his rides and needs one of us to substitute for him?"

The local medic sent the Wrecker a glare due to such an idea, but it wasn't something he was completely doubting either. For the Agent in question had been asking quite a bit of the bots lately, with this most recent request almost causing a nuclear detonation that would have irradiated all of Nevada and four adjoining states surrounding it. Such a mission had the Autobots not only engaging Decepticons, but they were also introduced to another threat, one of the human variety too.

So, it was easy to see why the bots were a bit...aggravated by the notion that the Agent wanted something from them once again. After all, he normally never called them unless it was for such a reason.

Now, its not that the bots hated the man (mostly), they didn't. But they were rather open to the idea of getting a break from him if possible. Something like a temporary vacation from their liaison. But despite such a promising idea, each of the Cybertronians and their human allies knew that they wouldn't be getting off so easy.

So instead of dropping the call like so many of them wanted to, Optimus approached Ratchet's console and answered the call (while being careful so not to get blindsided by the mans screaming like he often did), "Yes, Agent Fowler?" he greeted the man, "Is there something you need?"

Everyone, including the children, quickly prepared themselves for the booming voice of the Autobot's liaison. After all, Fowler was quite known for just how annoyingly loud he could be when annoyed. In fact, he was like Ratchet in that way...

Only far more irritating.

"Prime, we've got some trouble."

That little statement didn't surprise anyone. Whenever Fowler came around, it was only for two reasons. To complain about something, or to give the bots bad news. And there was one of the bots that had grown quite sick of the latter of the two. So much so, that he approached the medic's console and addressed the agent personally.

"Again?" Bulkhead angrily questioned the man, "What now? What could you seriously need for us to do with you now? After all the recent scrap you've had us help you out with, what could you seriously need us to do now-"

"Its the Scrapyard."

Like the flip of a switch, Bulkhead and the rest of the bots froze. Shock was present all over their faces, an uneasy silence quickly following the agent's words. But for the kids, it just lead to more confusion. And it wasn't just because of the bot's reaction either. Much to nearly all of their expectations, Fowler wasn't his normal angry, overaggressive mood either. Instead, the man simply sounded worried for some reason. And for whatever reason that was, none of the bots had a feeling that they were going to like it.

"The...what?" Jack asked, not liking what he was seeing from the bots.

Snapping out of their shock,, Ratchet let out a sigh while he pinched his 'nose', "Most of Megatron's forces are entirely made up of 'Vehicons'. Powerful yet disposable Drones that often come in either land based or air based alternative forms. In combat, these drones are often deployed in mass number and are often reduced to piles of scrap after the battle is settled."

"Once the battle is over though, Megatron often has his forces collect the remains of his troops and transports them back to the Nemesis, where they can be repaired and deployed again like nothing had happened."

"But this doesn't always happen." Optimus spoke, taking over for the medic, "Whenever a battle is located within a place where the Vehicons cannot be safely retrieved or if their failure is too great, Megatron often leaves them there as punishment for their defeat."

Agent Fowler took up the stage next, "And when the Cons leave their troops just lying around, its my job to collect them and store them so no one accidentally stumbles upon them and causes a panic."

While it was unlikely given some of the locations of their battles, the bots and Fowler agreed that leaving Vehicon corpses lying around wouldn't be the smartest of things. If there was even the littlest of chances that someone could stumble upon the remains, then both the Bots and Fowler would be in a loud of trouble.

"Okay," Raf asked, having understood what they had told the three, "But whats this...Scrapyard place you were talking about?"

"Its where we keep the remains of any Vehicon that Megatron leaves behind." Ratchet explained once again, "In short, its meant to be a highly secured warehouse that contains various off-limit equipment. But in truth, its simply a graveyard for Megatron's garbage."

The 'Scrapyard' was perhaps one of the most important and defining part of the agreement the Autobots had struck with the human race. For exchange for a place to hide Megatron's leftovers, the Government had a way to keep the Bot's presence a secret and actually study them (even if there had been quite a few guidelines added by Ratchet). It was a win-win situation mostly.

But from such a concept, Jack realized a fairly big issue with it, "Okay...but why not keep them here or something? You guys have plenty of room from what we've seen."

"Too Dangerous." Ratchet explained, "We can't risk even one of the Vehicons being tracked back here. It would mean catastrophic results for all of us if Megatron discovered out base."

From that, everyone could agree. With the giant warship that normally followed wherever the Decepticons went, the bots couldn't afford to have their secret base discovered by their sworn enemies. What could happen if such a turnout occurred was something that no one wanted to imagine, even slightly.

"That being said though," Ratchet announced before turning his attention back to Fowler, "What happened exactly? You've assured us that the facility is completely full proof, and that the records of its real cargo are unknown to nearly all outlets of your government."

Along with that, Ratchet had also helped design the place too. The medic had added a few unique security measures in case the Cons did try and track the ruined Cons. After all, Ratchet might not be willing to risk the base itself, but he wasn't going to let Megatron have his chance to get his claws on so many recyclable Vehicons without some form of protection.

He was careful, not stupid.

Despite not being there, Agent Fowler let out a tired sigh while he began to explain, "It wasn't something I wanted to bother you lot with at first. We merely thought that it was an power issue. A small black out or something."

From then on, the representative began to fully explain what had occurred. He spoke about how the base had gone dark, how some of the guards stationed there had vanished, and finally...the lock down. It was what made Fowler and his superiors aware of the situation itself and why it changed from a minor inconvenience to a major problem.

"All we know is that someone, a small force at the most, has invaded the facility." Fowler finished, "We haven't had any contact with the guards that were stationed there, and with the lock-down in place, it means that one of them manged to discover what was going on before he was taken out."

The situation seemed grim, and it surely wasn't something the bots could just ignore. The building did contain quite a bit of information on them and the Decepticons. Information the bots couldn't just let fall into the wrong hands.

"Alright," Bulkhead announced as he smacked his servos together, "Why don't we break in there and let you guess handle it?"

Remarkably, Ratchet and Fowler would have actually agreed with the Wrecker's suggestion. But of course, there was a catch, "What do you think we've been doing? We've tried to break in a few times, but the place is built like a fortress. Even you lot would need some time to get inside. Time that would just clue in whoever is doing this and speed up their attempts."

At the moment, their only advantage was the fact that the intruders had no idea that they were onto them. If they took their time, the intruders could find themselves examining the warehouse for quite some time. But if they know that help is coming, then the lengths they could go to find what they were looking for before they were caught could mean for an even worse turn out.

So, for the moment at least...brute force would just make things worse.

"Why don't you guys just Ground Bridge into the place?" Miko suggested, a smirk present on the girl's face, "I doubt anyone would suspect a group of giant robots to suddenly appear through a freaky portal!"

Now, that was something most of the bots could agree to. After all, if the intruders had already seen the remains of the Vehicons, then they wouldn't exactly have much more to hide from them. Sometimes, keeping themselves a secret wasn't all that important. But even so, Ratchet shook his head at the girl's idea.

"While a possibility, Ground Bridging into the building was something I actually wanted to prevent." he sighed, "During construction, I had assisted Agent Fowler in setting up some filters, devices that would scramble a Ground Bridge's signal and prevent it from stabilizing."

Such devices were fairly simple, and yet amazingly effective. In fact, if the Autobots didn't use their own Ground Bridge so often, then Ratchet would have installed the same devices around their on base. Still, it made of quite a powerful defense against enemy insertion via a Ground Bridge. Too bad that the Medic's own devices were actually standing as a obstacle for them now.

"Although...that does give me an idea." Ratchet mused, something that shocked quite a number of the bots.

"The filters I set up disrupt and dis-stabilize a ground bridge's signal, but it doesn't completely block it." the medic explained, "If one were to generate a small enough bridge and kept it open for a short amount of time, then someone would be able to slip on in...in theory."

While many of the bots were a bit relieved that Ratchet had actually came up with a plan, the 'in theory' part didn't really inspire that much faith. After all, in theory often meant one of two things. It would either work, or fail horribly.

And the latter of the two options never sounded good.

"I may be able to generate a ground bridge small enough and just long enough for someone to slip inside. And from there, the individual could de-activate the lock down that is preventing Agent Fowler's men from entering."

"But..." Ratchet muttered before the bots got too comfortable with the idea, "The size of the Ground Bridge would have to be quite insignificant. That would be the only way for it to maintain its stability without collapsing on itself and..."

Thankfully, the medic didn't finish that sentence. After all, the idea of what would happen to someone if a Ground Bridge closed on them was not a happy thought. It was bade enough that they were often escaping a dangerous situation, but getting trapped inside one of them? Such an outcome wasn't pleasant sounding to anyone.

"How big are we talking about?" Bulkhead asked, not really liking the sound of 'insignificant'.

"Hm..." Ratchet mused for a second or two, "If my calculations are correct...only around three to four meters, give or take."

Frowning, the bots quickly realized that such a size would limit nearly all of them from venturing inside the compound. At most, Arcee's alternate form would be the only one that could fit. The rest of them would have to wait and see how things worked out.

But really, would the bots seriously send one of their own into a completely unknown situation without at least some form of back-up?

Well, not exactly.

* * *

_-The 'Scrapyard'-_

* * *

"This is insane."

Sighing, Jack shook his head at his irate guardian, "Well, it was either me or Miko, which one of us would you rather of had come along?"

A split second of silence was earned, resulting in a aggravated grunt from the femme, "Point taken."

Smirking to himself, Jack "So, why haven't you guys told us about this place before?"

After shifting through a rather small and unstable looking Ground Bridge, Jack and Arcee quickly found themselves in a dark, abandoned room. Said room was also filled with abandoned and dusty looking crates, but luckily, it seemed to be far out of the way of anything of importance too. Meaning that the intruders likely hadn't heard to duo's arrival either.

And they were thankful for that. After all, the mission the two had to do would be one better accomplished without being noticed. Sneaking inside and finding the security room was all Jack and Arcee had to do. For form there (and with the information Agent Fowler had told them), the pair should have no trouble with disabling the Lock-out. Without such a barrier would easily allow Fowler's men to ransack the place without giving any warning to the intruders.

With such a simple and straight forward plan, everyone could hope that all of it could be accomplished without any issues.

Hopefully.

"Well," Arcee whispered as she rolled through the portal, "Would you guys have honestly wanted to hear about where the busted up remains of the Cons we fight go? Just didn't seem like something one talks about."

Jack shrugged, understanding that idea, "True. Unless you're Miko, that doesn't seem to be good conversational material."

Arcee gave the boy that, but grew quiet as the duo approached the door to the room they had appeared in. While being ever so quiet, the pair gently approached the door and leaned it open. Peaking out of it, the duo let out a small sigh of relief upon seeing no one around.

"Okay, so what now?" Jack whispered, still scanning the hall for any sign of the intruders.

Flickering her mirror at the teen, Arcee mused on what the pair should do next, "You stay here. I'll go searching around for a bit until I can find a safe room to the security room. Then I'll come back, get you, and then we can both get out of here once you turn off the Lock-down."

A reasonable plan in the femme's mind, but it wasn't when it concerned her 'partner', "You can't be serious."

"What?"

"You're just going to drive around this place until you find these guys?" Jack asked, sounding as if the plan was utterly insane, "Really? Why don't we both go? We both find the security room, and we both get out of-"

Before he could finish though, Arcee promptly interrupted the boy, "No."

Her tone was flat and serious, leaving nearly no room for a rebuttal in the femme's decision. Jack himself just gawked at the motorcycle, but the glare she was giving him through her mirrors was more than enough to tell the boy that he had no chance to convince her otherwise.

With her mind made up, Jack reluctantly opened the door of the femme. From there Arcee quietly rolled into the hall before taking off, her alt. form sounding amazingly silent as it sped off down the hall.

"Great..." Jack grumbled.

Letting out a small sigh, Jack retreated back into the room and leaned against a nearby wall. He wasn't going to risk roaming the building without at least some company, but that didn't mean he actually liked being ditched yet again.

Still, with nothing else to do, Jack let out a small sigh and simply waited for Arcee to return. This little decision lasted for several minutes, with the various storage boxes being the only company the boy had during such a wait. But after several boring minutes, the teen snapped to attention when he heard the sound of footsteps emerging from down one end of the hall..

Swallowing his breath, Jack cautiously started to inch himself towards the door. Luckily, the door had been only somewhat left ajar, allowing Jack a small chance to gaze out at the approaching figures. But what he saw wasn't something that would make his day any better.

Making their way through the hall were two humans, men from what Jack could tell. Due to their attire, which consisted of a full-body suit, a military style coat, and a mask covering their face, it was nearly impossible for Jack to tell exactly what gender either of the pair was. But in truth, that wasn't the first thin that crossed the teen's mind. Instead, the first thing Jack noticed was the rifles the men were carrying.

_'Scrap!'_ Jack cursed before ducking back into the room.

Not only that, but their attire seemed oddly familiar, almost as if Jack had seen it before. Still, with the two men passing awfully close to the room he was in, Jack clamped his hands over his mouth and just sat there, being as quiet as he could possibly be.

"Think we should check this one?" one of the men asked just as they passed.

"Nah, we're looking for computers remember? The boss wants data on these giant metal...things." one of the men replied to his partner, "And do you really think theres going to be something in there?"

Shrugging, the other half of the pair simply shook his head as they continued on, "Guess not."

As silent as he could be, Jack watched as the two men continued down the hall, seemingly ignoring the teen's room completely. It was a relief that almost made Jack sigh, but he manged to catch himself right before he did so.

_'That was close...'_ Jack inwardly sighed before leaning back again.

This time though, the teen's luck didn't seem to hold up. For the moment the boy reached out to rest himself against something, Jack's hand brushed up against a small box that had been stored just behind the door. Such a brief contact might not have seemed like much, but it was just enough to send the box teetering over the side...

**-BANG!-THWACK!-CLANG!-**

And crashing to the ground, sending all of its innards to spill out across the floor with a noisy shutter.

The moment this happened, Jack froze like a stature, almost as if he had broken glass or something. The teen remained still though, a small part of him hoping the the strange men who had just passed hadn't heard his blunder.

"What the hell was that!?"

"No idea...I think it came from that room though."

"Think one of the guards snuck away while we weren't looking?"

"Dunno. Lets check it out."

_'Scrap!' _Jack silently screamed.

With the two intruders slowly making their way back toward Jack's hiding place, the teen's mind went into overdrive as he tried to find a place to hide. There were so many boxes to hide behind that Jack had no idea which one to pick. But with time quickly running out, the teen also knew that he didn't have time to debate._  
_

So by picking a place at random, Jack dived behind a set of boxes and sat in wait, hoping that he would go unnoticed.

A silent tension filled the air, the only sounds penetrating the room being the sound of Jack breathing and the footsteps growing ever closer to the room. These footsteps soon grew comfortingly loud, culminating when a low creaking was heard as the door was pushed open.

Nothing as said, not even a vague attempt at calling out 'Anyone there?'. The two intruders simply strolled on into the room, their weapons at the ready as they began searching through the room.

What followed was a near unbearable moment of two of silence for Jack. The teen could practically feel his heart beating as every second crawled by. It was almost as if his heart was trying to burst out of his chest. Not only that though, the teen also had to deal with his eyes too!

The tension, it was like a jump start for his eyes. The sprang to life and filled the boy's head with a sharp pain. IT was almost enough to earn a yelp from the boy, but he manged to beat it down for the moment.

Despite such developments though, Jack tried his best to ignore both his heart and his crimson eyes. Instead, he merely attempted to stay as quiet as possible. Several seconds passed in this fashion, with the men seemingly unaware of the teen in the room with them. But like all good things, Jack's luck seemed to give out on him the moment the guards were about to leave.

**-RIIIIING!-**

Eyes snapping open, Jack's looked down at himself and gasped at the sudden noise, _'Phone!'_

Jack quickly tried to reach down and silence his phone before he was discovered. But by the time his hand touched his plastic device, it was too late.

The moment Jack actually manged to turn off his phone, the two men were already on him. In the quick seconds that followed, a strong arm reached over the boxes Jack had hidden behind and grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt. A quickly flick of said arm, and Jack quickly found himself dragged out of his hiding place and violently tossed across the room, landing atop a nearby table with a pain shooting through his back.

Groaning, Jack slowly opened his eyes after such a painful landing and was greeted with quite an unpleasant sight.

Two men standing over him, with a gun pointed directly in his face.

"Well now." one of the men, the one who wasn't pointing the gun at him, chuckled at the trapped teen, "Whats this then?"

"Looks like a kid," the other man muttered, "In fact...hey! I know you!"

Gulping, Jack couldn't do a thing but yelp as one of the men grabbed him by the neck and pulled him upward. The two were now on even levels, with Jack able to look the man straight in the face (or mask, as it was), "This is the punk that was one the train! The one I told you about!"

Tilting his head to the side, the other man looked at his partner confusingly, "What? You mean the kids you say was on that train? The one where we tried to steal that...that, what was it called?"

"Dingus?"

Blinking the two men looked back to Jack, who was wearing a rather nervous look, "I...think it was called the Dingus..."

The duo seemed to process such a word for a moment, almost as if neither of them could believe that someone would actually name something that. But in the meanwhile, they unknowingly gave Jack enough time to finally remember where he had seen the two before. Or at least, their uniforms. They were part of that group that tried to steal the Dingus and almost got Jack, Miko, Raf, and all of Nevada killed!

_'I...I think Fowler called them, MECH or something...'_

"Yeah!" the man with the gun finally remembered, "Thats it! How could I forget such a stupid name!? You on the train with it! Holding a fire extinguisher!"

Jack seriously had to resist gapping at the man's memories,_ 'Thats what you remember?'_

Despite his partner's revelation though, the other MECH agent found himself more focused on another question, "Okay, thats neat, but whats with the kid being here then?"

Freezing up, Jack felt his entire body go cold. Explaining to the two men why he was there would be nearly impossible. What serious excuse could the teen make up to explain why he was in a random military warehouse? It just didn't make sense! And unfortunately, it was something the pair picked up on as well.

"Yeah, you've got a point there." the agent holding Jack muttered. Turning his attention back towards Jack, the man tightened his grip around the boy's neck.

"So, kid. What'cha doing here?"

Feeling himself being pulled off the table, Jack felt his voice suddenly leave him. The pressure against this throat made it nearly impossible for him to speak. All the teen could do was stare into the man's expressionless face, the mask hiding any hint of the man's own expressions.

The other stranger shrugged, almost uncaring about whatever explanation Jack might give him, "Why don't we just bring him back to the boss? If the kid was there, maybe he knows a bit about those freaky robots?"

Musing on that idea, the man's partner pulled Jack a bit closer and seemed to inspect his face for a second or two, "Dunno. You think the boss will like that? You know how he feels about people dragging pointless things into his office."

Yet again, the man's partner shrugged, unable to deny such a fact. Still, he didn't really want to deal with Jack at the moment. The longer the pair wasted with Jack, the less time they had to complete their assignment. And despite how eager the other agent was about getting some information out of Jack, neither of them wanted to face their boss if they came back empty handed.

With nothing telling the man to stop though, the Agent holding Jack just continued on his way. But upon roughing the boy up a bit, the man noticed something a bit odd about Jack. Something he hadn't noticed before.

"You know kid, you have very weird eyes...you know that?"

The teen's breath hitched the moment his eyes were mentioned, the damn eyes were always popping up at the wrong time.

But while the man noticed the boy's eyes, he also stared into them. The red coloring and the tomoes. They weren't something he had ever seen before. But within those brief seconds of staring, something else began to happen. Something the man couldn't really put into words.

For before the man's very eyes, he could have sworn that at he saw Jack's eyes spin, like a pinwheel.

Then, without warning, it happened.

Just as the man began speak again, he froze. His entire body went frigid, all the muscles in his body went stiff and his grip loosed too. Even behind the man's mask, sweat dripped down his face, almost as if his heart had suddenly stopped beating. But while the man's body went still, his eyes continued to move.

* * *

_-MECH Agent's subconscious-_

* * *

_"Wh..what?"_

_In an instant, everything seemed to change. The room vanished, Jack and the other intruder disappeared completely from the man's gaze. In fact, there was nothing even around for the man to see. It was all just darkness, likes someone had switched off all the lights in a pitch black room._

_"What the hell is this!?" he man demanded, loking around the room almost frantically, "Kid! If this is you, knock it off!"_

_There was no reply to the man's demands though. Nothing, not even his partner sharing the same experience. In fact, the man seemed completely alone..._

_Almost._

_For just standing a few feet away from the frustrated agent, was a figure. At first glance, one could easily confuse such a thing as silhouette. But in truth, it was much more than that. Whatever it was, the figure was massive, towering over the man like a skyscraper. Its entire form was, like the rest of the surroundings, pitch black. It nearly blended into the background even, no noticeable characteristics could be seen to separate it from the darkness._

_There only thing that could be seen though, and that was its eyes._

_Large burning orbs, cutting through the darkness like a knife. They were so intense that they even seemed to be glowing like a burning fire. In fact, everything felt like it as burning. The ground, air, and even the man's body. All of it felt as if someone had doused them in lighter fluid and set them ablaze._

_Blazing..._

_Burning..._

_Like a fire..._

* * *

_-Back in Reality-_

* * *

"The hell?"

Without the man actively holding onto him, Jack quickly fell back onto the table, coughing his lungs out. But when the man staggered back and just stood there, his partner blinked behind his mask and just looked at the man confusingly.

"Hey, man...whats wrong?" the trooper questioned, his tone filled with utter confusion. But when his partner didn't reply, the MECH agent leaned over and nudged the man's shoulder. Instead of snapping out of whatever was happening to him though, the man just sat there, unmoving.

Not even a twitch.

"Hey! Whats wrong with you!?" the man snapped, even taking the time to slap his partner over the man's head. Yet despite that, the man still didn't get a response. If was as if the man's partner was unconscious or something. Completely separated from the world, his mind gone for the most part.

But when the man found his attempts failing, he turned his attention toward Jack with a raging expression underneath his mask.

"You! What did you do-" he growled.

Just before the man could even touch Jack though, the teen's foot shot upward. It happened in an instant, leaving the man no chance to react once Jack's shoe made contact with his chin. A thunderous crack followed suit, ending with the man staggering back before falling back onto the ground.

Out like a light.

With his heart beating like a drum, Jack sat silently for a few seconds. His gaze was shaky and his skin was cold, but the teen manged to keep his gaze on the two men in front of him. One of them seemed to be out cold, his chin meeting the bad end of Jack's foot. But the other...he just stood there, silent and as still as a rock.

_'What in the...'_ Jack inwardly muttered, his throat still feeling a bit sore from the man's death grip.

Not willing to stand around and see whenever the man snapped out of his strange condition though, Jack stood up and cautiously motioned himself around the two men. A chill ran up the teen's spine when he passed by the latter of the two though, an unsettling feeling shuttering through the teen. Something about what happened to him...it unsettled Jack.

And his eyes...they weren't making the situation any better.

The orbs attached to his face were burning like a fire. Like a candle had been lit behind his skull, slowly roasting the inside of his face. Regardless of this though, Jack did his best to slowly make his way out of the room and into the hall. He needed to get away from the two, to be alone...

_'Need some...eye drops too.'_ he muttered to himself.

"Jack!?"

Snapping out of his little stump, Jack looked up and let out a sigh of relief when he noticed a familiar looking motorcycle rolling down the hall. Offering the femme a small wave, Jack let out a sigh and leaned up against the wall as she drove up next to him.

"Jack?! What happened?" Arcee quickly asked the teen, having heard the commotion echoing down the hallway.

Taking a moment to collect himself, Jack shook his head and waved off the femme's concern. But before telling her that everything was alright, the boy's gaze trailed itself back toward the room itself...

And toward the unmoving form that belonged to one of the intruders.

"I..." Jack muttered, "I don't know."

* * *

_-Unknown location, sometime later-_

* * *

"Sir, I'm sorry to report that the men sent to recover the data from the military installation have failed."

Sitting across from the saluting soldier, a man let out a deep sigh. Silas had been hoping that the data that those men could find my shed some light on the mysterious beings he and his organization had discovered not so long ago. After all, he had spent quite a penny to learn the location of the 'Scrapyard' and MECH had hopped such an investment could offer them some hefty returns.

But, it seemed as if some things just weren't meant to be.

"How, unfortunate." Silas mused, shaking his head at the failure. He had been so sure that the men he had selected had been more than qualified for such an assignment. But, it seems he had been mistaken, "Still, it seems we will have to take a more direct route then."

Pushing himself up from his desk, the soldier stepped aside as his commanding officer walked passed him. Saluting the man, the soldier watched as Silas made his way toward the entrance to his office.

"Inform the Scientists to move our more experimental studies to a more remote location." he told his underling, "We'll need somewhere isolated, where no one will suspect our presence..."

Briefly allowing a few ideas and concepts to shift through his mind, Silas smiled deviously at a idea he had concerning such an operation. It would be quick, simple, and it would draw one of the titans of machines to them like a moth to a flame.

"In fact, inform all personnel to report to the Kamchatka Peninsula as soon as possible, we'll have plenty to work on before we're ready."

Nodding, the soldier saluting the commander once more before running off to complete his assignment, "Of course, sir. I'll get the scientists working on that right away!"

With his gaze swiftly following the man as he quickly ran past him, Silas shook his head at the man's eagerness,"See that you do, son."

"See that you do."

* * *

Author's Note:

-The idea for the 'Scrapyard' came from a question I always had. What happened to the remains of the Vehicons after they are often destroyed? Are they retrieved by Megatron to be rebuilt? Some Government sector to be stored and studied (And yes, that sounds familiar to me too)? The Autobots? Or are they just left there to rust? So heres my little solution to such a question!

-Sorry for the long wait. A LOT of things started to get in the way while I was writing this one. Money issues, family issues, College being a pain in the ass. Things like that. It was a mess.

-Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this one and come back the next time around! Pop a review if you feel like it too. I'd like to hear your thoughts, and if you have any questions, thats where you can hand them in or send me a PM too. Either or is fine, just as long as you have a profile for me to respond to.

See you next time!


	3. An Unknown Flame

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, Viz Media, and Shonen Jump.  
Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro.

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._

* * *

_Chapter: An Unknown Flame._

* * *

_-Autobot Outpost Omega One-_

* * *

"Ugh, This sucks..."

Inside the Autobot's massive base, three teenagers sighed amongst themselves. Up atop one of the platforms within the colossal base, the three found themselves huddled around a small wooden table with pencils in their hands. As usual School had ended just a short time ago. Once over, the trio's guardians brought the teens back to base to hang out. Once there though, the teens found themselves busy with work left over from their day of learning.

Something, to one of them, was an utter waste of time.

"Miko, its not that bad."

Snapping her head up, Miko glared over the table at her two friends. Raf was hard at work, carefully scanning his assignment while Jack leaned on his elbow, a bit more casual as he worked. Of course, they weren't wasting their time complaining, much to her irritation.

"Yes it is!" she snappishly denied, "This is torture and they know it! Whoever thought we would need to know this much math is insane! It feels like my head is going to explode!"

Silently, Raf and Jack shared a look, the deadpan clear on their faces, "Is that because you're still on the first few problems?"

"...and your point is?"

Looking up, Raf sighed while Jack crossed his arms. As most students did, Miko often had trouble when it concerned schoolwork. But when she was involved, the girl was in a league of her own. She despised it, a fact everyone knew. And with most of the Autobots having left shortly after bringing the children to the base (except a certain medic, who brushed them off for his OWN work), the amount of ham Miko stirred up to distract everyone was of little surprise.

It rarely worked, but that never stopped Miko from trying. She hated it THAT much.

Then again, Miko didn't really like anything about school. It was just an utter bore to her, as it was to most teens. If she had her way, Miko would have spend most of her days just hanging out with Bulkhead, playing her guitar, and just messing around. Heck, her detentions were just a way for her to liven school up a bit during the long, boring days.

But with homework, there was no escape. Reluctantly, Miko glared at her assignment and returned to it. Remarkably enough though, just a few more minutes later, Jack let out a sigh and set down his pencil. Confused, Miko and Raf looked up, just in time to catch him reclining in his seat.

It took the two about three seconds to realize what it meant.

"What?!" Miko snapped, slamming her hands onto the table in shock, "You're already done!?"

Just across the table, Jack shrugged and pushed several papers in front of himself. With a small smile, the teen leaned back against his hands. Unlike his friends, all Jack's work seemed to be finished. Words were scribbled in, phrases and words were collectively matched, and Jack's name sat neatly at the top corner of the paper, almost as if it was mocking Miko.

"Yeah?" Jack replied, "What about it?"

Gawking, Miko stared for a moment with her jaw wide as a fish. Raf though, examined the papers curiously, "How long have you been done?"

Jack thought about it for a moment and shrugged, "Like, five minutes or so. Why?"

Technically, Jack wouldn't give himself too much credit. In truth, it was his eyes, a simple trick with his eyes. Whenever changed, Jack's visual perception became something far more precise than he could have possibly imagined. Just by glancing at something, he could see and remember things so much easier. It was as if one glance was all he needed to memorize something.

Made schoolwork fairly simple actually, among other things. Least, when his eyes felt like cooperating.

"Dude!" Miko snapped yet again, the gears in her head finally starting to move again, "If you're done, then help me out a bit! This stuff is hard!"

Despite her plea though, Jack didn't seem all so convinced, "Miko, its just a bunch of memorization-"

"I know! And I suck at it! So help me for a bit!"

Nearly pouting at the teen, Miko seemed near the point of begging for Jack's help. She was bored, almost righteously so. Sitting in the base, all but having one of the Autobots seemed bad enough, but add the mind numbing idea of doing homework too?! It was like torture for the hyperactive exchange student.

"Is that why you keep falling asleep in class?" Raf offhandedly asked, "Because you finish the work faster than most of us?"

Such a question made Jack wince. In recent days, Jack had developed a rather nasty habit of falling asleep in class. Mostly it was just Art History, but still it happened. But Jack swore, his skill in the classroom had nothing to do with it! Some sleepless nights were to blame! Not that his teachers cared of course. And when their method of waking someone up is dropping a book right next to their heads, its never a pleasant thing to deal with.

"Whatever," Miko scoffed, shrugging off the supposed reason for Jack's occasional dozing, "So can you help me, please?"

Rolling his eyes, Jack gave the girl another shrug, "Nope."

At an answer such as that, Miko pouted, disappointed. Begrudgingly, the girl turned her attention back to her schoolwork. Rad did as well, though he gave Jack a small smile before he did so. Miko often did have a habit of poking others for answers when she was stuck on some kind of problem. It was an innocent thing half the time, but the other half?

She did get detentions quite a lot at school for a reason.

As the duo resumed their work, Jack glanced up at the ceiling and sighed. Nothing better to do, his mind wonder aimlessly. Thoughts on how the day had gone, things such as school and waking up. Saying goodbye to his mother in the morning, riding to school and the base with Arcee, many classes, and even Miko's groaning upon receiving her homework. Silently he sat, allowing the thoughts to fly by without care.

While waiting though, Jack frowned. Abruptly, the teen sat up and rubbed his head. Thinking just became very difficult for some odd reason. The awkward silence was one thing, but the matter wasn't helped but his friend's pencil scratching in the background. It was like nails on a very soft chalkboard.

That, and Miko's irritated muttering.

Frustrated, Jack let out a small sigh and pushed himself up from the table, "Hey guys?"

"Gonna go take a walk for a bit, clear my head, alright?"

While Raf wouldn't be too much longer, Jack realized Miko would likely have quite a hard time with her homework. Denying her some help would force the girl to focus on actually getting it done would help, but only to a certain degree. Stubborn as she was, Miko could take quite a while to deal with her assignment, and Jack was not about to sit around and wait as she muttered to herself.

Instead, the teen stood up and walked across the platform. A walk around the base could help clear his mind, and get him far away from any bothersome distractions.

"Whatever," Miko muttered, glaring down at her homework.

As Jack departed, Raf looked up at the boy and blinked, "Hey, you want us to tell Ratchet if he asks where you went?"

Already halfway down the steps that led to the base's main floor, Jack waved off his friend's concern, "Nah, I won't be going to far, don't bother him."

Ever since a certain incident that started with Raf discovery of a tiny, adorable, and vicious little robot, the Autobots hadn't been keen on the children going off on their own while they weren't around. The base itself held nothing that could harm the teens, they were certain of that. But in Optimus' opinion, it was better to be safe than sorry. The Autobot's world was dangerous in nearly every aspect, and Ratchet never got tired of reminding them whenever given the chance.

Miko often chuckled at the medic's rants, though Raf thought he was just stressed. The bots were part of a war after all, and he was their only medical officer.

Regardless, Jack waved goodbye to his friends and made his way down onto the main floor of the Autobot's base. The Command Center was truly massive, made to occupy the entire team of Cybertronians at once, with high ceilings and spacious flooring. It held the Ground Bridge, Ratchet's terminal, and the medic's various equipment. For a human, the place was truly gigantic, and very empty.

Like a massive, vacant, abandoned building.

Earning a small chuckle from Raf as he departed, Jack made his way down to the main floor and walked off toward on of the base's tunnels. Despite what Raf had said, Jack felt...like he needed some time to think. Without someone interrupting him. Which of course, was impossible to do while Miko was bugging him to help her with homework.

As he made his way into the inner sections of the base though, Jack's mind started to wonder once again...

...ending up back in a subject that had been bugging Jack for a while now.

In the past few days, even before Jack's close encounter with death at the hands of two MECH agents within the 'Scrapyard', strange dreams plagued the teen. They weren't the typical thing a teenager would dream of either. No simple embarrassing moment at school or some bat-shit insane situation born within his imagination.

No, these dreams were worse. They were strange, but also very real at the same time.

Jack clutched his head, "Man..."

There was no way he could explain it, Jack was sure of it. Each dream, no matter the length or content, always left an odd lingering feeling of deja'vu in its wake. Strangely though, Jack didn't feel as if he had done anything from the dreams before, or even been to the places themselves. Instead, every dream made the teen feel as if he had seen them, as if his own eyes had been there to witness the event itself.

Not a bit of it made sense.

Though in truth, the dreams themselves rarely made sense otherwise.

* * *

_-One Night Prior-  
_

* * *

_Like many of the boy's other dreams, Jack's most recent one began as they always did, in darkness._

_Comparing the situation would be like looking at an empty movie theater. Before the film starts, but with none of the lights on. Just waiting for something to happen while sitting in complete darkness. But as the shadows grew nearly endless, something emerged, a light, a stream of sunlight.  
_

_And before he could blink, Jack saw a landscape before him, something he had never seen before, even in his dreams._

_Barren, desolate, nothing but stone and rocks. Such a landscape looked akin to a wasteland, with nothing but a few sparse patches of grass strung throughout it. Forests were viewable in the distance, and the clouds hing above the rocky land for miles on end, peaceful and quiet regardless of what went down below.  
_

_But upon such a barren piece of land, activity buzzed. People ran back and forth, leaped from place to place, and yells danced throughout the air. Yet upon such a landscape, there were no good reasons for yelling, cheering or even a gathering of people. Instead, in such a place, only one thing gathered.  
_

_Death, death was everywhere._

_Horror filled Jack, his eyes widening as he watched. A battle raged on upon the landscape below, two factions fighting it out between each other. Swords cut through skin, shuiken pierced hides, and bones were shattered upon impact. It was like a war zone, one where the dead were soon out-numbering the living. But despite their losses, the two groups never halted their battle. Two groups, one with a red and white fan-like symbol on their backs, and another in armor, heavy yet slowed them down for not only a moment.  
_

_The Senju, and the Uchiha.  
_

_Jack blinked. He had no idea where such names arrived from. To his best words, they just appeared within his mind, just as the battle itself had.  
_

_As he watched, the teen slowly noticed two mean among the two battling sides. Each member of these waring groups were skilled, fighting each other without end. But even among them, there were two that stood out. Men who could brush aside any number of the opposing group without any real effort._

_One of them was a tall, strong man in a red set of armor that covered his chest, neck, and shoulders. Atop his head sat a white headband, sitting upon his forehead with the purpose of keeping his long back hair from getting in the way. Lastly, attached to his back was a large white scroll, something that seemed far too impossibly large to be of any real use.  
_

_But despite the accessory, the man fought with a power that seemed...inhuman. He jumped through the air with a sword in hand, running at speeds that could make the fastest athlete faint on sight. Across the torn landscape, he flew through men like paper, slicing and cutting down foes at least twice his size. With a punch alone he dropped at least a dozen men, the first falling and the rest following suit._

_This man was beyond nearly anything Jack had ever seen, like a force of nature itself.  
_

_Even with such feats however, the man's foe was someone Jack needed no reminder in who he was, or what he could do._

_Tearing through the battlefield, a man with raven black hear tore though man after man, sword in hand. Clothed in a blue outfit, similar to his clansmen, the man held nothing back as he charged. Swords in hand, eyes as red as blood, and a brown sash holding even more weapons, such a force dominated the battlefield just as his foe had done. But to Jack, he had seen this before. The man seemed shorter, his hair not as long as it had been before, and his rage somewhat tempered, but it was him.  
_

_The individual who had appeared again and again throughout the teen's dreams, he was still the monster Jack had grown to know.  
_

_A fact clearly shown as the two monstrous shinobi clashed, their blows shaking the environment itself. Again and again, their blades met, striking, slashing against each other. And when their blades grew dull, their fists contained as if they had never had them. Wills of steel these two had, and with them, power unmatched by any others that day.  
_

_Whilst their battle continued, the two warriors began throwing the elements at one another, showing even the world itself could be their weapons.  
_

_Trees, roots, and entire forests sprouted from the earth, brought forth as Madara's foe tossed together a few hand-signs. Tearing through the ground, tremendous roots threw themselves at the Uchiha, so large that Jack could barely believe his eyes. No plant life could be so large, especially such colossal roots. They tore the landscape asunder as they grew, nature itself showing just how horrifying she could be when enraged.  
_

_Just as they rose from the ground, the roots made a bee-line towards Madara, tearing through the rocks, hills, and Earth itself to reach the man, so they could crush the life out of him.  
_

_Madara would not be so easily bested though. As the showings of nature grew closer, the powerful Uchiha stood his ground and flickered through his own set of hand-signs, Strangely, Jack found himself entranced by the movements of the Uchiha's hands, his eyes following every gesture he made. Once finished though, the Uchiha took a deep breath...and exhaled. _

_But instead of simply releasing his own last breath, Madara set forth something that truly made Jack's jaw drop._

_Fire. _

_A fiery blaze was unleashed from his mouth, spewing forth like a firehouse and water. Madara had released a massive ball of flames, something easily three times his own size. The inferno was so hot that it easily burned the ground it scorched across, reducing anything that got in its way to ash as it was sent towards its chosen target.  
_

_Racing across the ground, the two powerful techniques met with an explosive flash. Madara's fire burned and tore at his foe's roots, stopping them dead in their tracks. But likewise, the incredibly thick roots also kept the Uchiha's fire from going any further, protecting the man from the scorching flames._

_The two explosive techniques were at a stand still, just as their casters seemed to be. No matter what the two did, it seemed as if neither of them could ever get one up on the other. It was as if they were stuck in a draw, like two forces of nature continuously beating on each other, full knowing that neither would ever budge.  
_

_But as the flames began to consume the wooden defense that separated Madara from his foe, a sickening sound could be heard in the background._

_It was like a cold, bloody slice. Something along the likes of steel cutting against flesh._

_Normally, a sound like that would of been common among the destructive battlefield. There were so many shinobi, both on the Uchiha and Senju lines that it would have seemed like a common occurrence. But, for some reason, Madara and his opponent stopped fighting the moment it reached their ears, drawing their attention...  
_

_A sound...that filled Madara..._

_...with utter horror._

_"IZUNA!"_

* * *

_-Present-_

* * *

Jack stopped dead in his tracks. Reaching up, the teen grabbed his head and hissed.

"I...Izuna?" he muttered, "What...the...?"

While he walked through the base's halls, Jack took a moment and shook his head. The name meant nothing to him, nothing at all. It was like something he had once heard in passing, like someone a person had mentioned to him in a casual conversation. Regardless of how hard he though, no faces appeared to match it, nor a time or a place. But merely thinking of it...

For whatever reason, it brought pain, horror...and sent a shiver of terror trembling down his spine.

"I mean really," he mumbled to himself, "Even I have my limits."

Rubbing his face, Jack continued down his stroll throughout the Autobot's base. The massive tunnels stood overhead, large and imposing in the gigantic structure. Inside the massive mesa, the halls were so large that two Autobots could stand side by side as they walked. But for a human, the massive tunnels could easily fit groups of people, tanks, transports, and all sorts of things in mass.

Instead though, all the massive halls held at the moment was one boy, one teen with a major headache. Jack's stroll was meant to be a simple moment to think to himself, to calm down. And yet, all he could think about was a weird name he got from an even odder dream.

Such dreams that didn't seem possible, or as lifelike as they appeared.

Jack rolled his eyes. Dreams were meant to be just that, dreams. Phenomenons of the mind, thoughts, images, and sensations that occurred during one's mind during sleep. Many were often random, things he could barely wrap his mind around when awake. Certainly they could bleed into each other from time to time but oddities were normal.

But was strange, even for dreams, were how connected these ones had been. As if they were...

The teen sighed and dropped his arms, "I swear..."

Having not a clue, Jack continued to make his way though the impressive halls of the base. Inwardly, he smiled sadly. At least none of the others could see him so confused. As much as he cared, Jack had a feeling none of them would understand. How could his friends understand something not even he could make heads or tails of?

_'And the last thing I need is Miko asking about what sort of nutty dreams are sticking to my head...' _Jack sighed._  
_

Or more precisely, just one. Throughout his stroll, Jack found just one singular dream poking him in the back of his head constantly. It was akin to a rash gnawing at him, refusing to go away. A conflict between two titanic warriors, one of wood and one of fire. That battle seemed to be the best representation of the strangeness that had been assaulting his brain back and forth. Such unbelievable power, a perfect representation of the strangeness the dreams contained.

And yet, Jack couldn't say that he hated it.

_'They're shooting damn fireballs, how isn't that awesome?'_ he grumbled to himself. The dreams were bizarre, strange, and mind-boggling, yet they were intriguing as all hell. Even the slightest nudge made Jack feel as if he was there. The wind on his face, the heat from the flames, the sounds of people fighting, swords clashing, and roots ripping themselves up through the ground.

And they looked damned real, regardless of not being so.

Dead center in one of the base's massive halls, Jack stopped abruptly and raised his hands to his face.

So real, and so clear. The dreams were even beyond that. Not only did Jack feel as if he was there, but he could everything too. What should have been a messy, barely recognizable mess within his head was as clear as day. Down to the swaying flames in the wind and the hand-signs crafted amidst the conflict, everything was as clear as day.

"The hell is going on..." he sighed.

In fact, the hand-signs were one of the hardest aspects for Jack to wrap his head around. How fast a person could craft a gesture with their hands, in the middle of battle. It seemed impossible.

_'No, not impossible,'_ he corrected. More complicated than anything. Crafting gestures with your hands, over a dozen in less than a few seconds would require concentration, focus, and skill beyond anything a normal person could achieve. Kinda like sign language only much harder. And yet, Jack recalled, he remembered. Almost as if they had been burned into his mind by a brand, everything he thought about the gestures, they appeared clear as day.

Merely picturing one was akin to holding a flashcard in front of his eyes.

Jack sighed and clenched his hands. A sudden thought popped into his head. Slowly, the teen brought his hands together and carefully intertwined his fingers. It was a bizarre idea, he admitted. More akin to a gut feeling than anything, a sudden curiosity. Like a passing fancy upon discovering something he hadn't realized before. After all, Jack had the knowledge, so why not test it out?

With the one of the hall's lights shining down from above, Jack closed his eyes and focused.

'Alright,' he sighed, concentrating. Within his mind, the teen pushed most of his thoughts away. His family, his friends, and even why he was in the base's halls in the first place. Jack pushed everything to the side and focused on one, single image. A gesture, a hand-sign, one that appeared clear as day in his mind. Then, almost involuntarily, his hands moved.

Involuntarily and to his shock, Jack crafted the hand-sign, perfectly replicated, all in the span of a few seconds.

"Okay, this is just getting freaky now..." he muttered.

Freaky was an understatement. Beyond even that. It was enough to make a man's head spin. Photographic memory existed and it was one thing. One look at something and a person could memorize it, as if taking a photo of it before storing it within their minds. Essentially, a person's mind became a scrapbook and their eyes cameras.

But, cameras couldn't take a picture of something that wasn't real, like a dream. And certainly, pictures couldn't teach someone like a damn instruction manual!

None of it made sense, not a lick of it. Jack reached up and rubbed his eyes. Dreams didn't work that way, memories either. They were a flicker of events, recreations of occurrences that once happened and or the ramblings of an unconscious mind. Regardless of how real they were, a person's mind would eventually forget them, as if wiping away a dry-erase board.

So then, how were such images so real? So clear, so...lifelike?

Shifting his feet, Jack let out a small sigh and rubbed his head, frustrated.

He took a step back, sighed, and cursed his luck. Within the colossal halls of the Autobot's base, Jack felt a headache form. If he had wanted to get confused, he would have asked one of the bots about their past or Raf about something regarding computers. Amidst his confusion however, a sudden idea appeared. Not just an idea though. Jack could barely even consider it an idea from just how stupid it sounded.

It was something one would likely think of it they had no idea of what was going on.

_'Well,'_ Jack mused, remembering his situation,_ 'I technically don't...'_

As much as Jack liked to think of himself as the most realistic of his friends at the base, even he had his moments. Nothing akin to Miko's death-defying antics, nor Raf's naivety but Jack had his moments. Taking a leap of curiosity and sitting on what had been a 'seemingly' ordinary motorcycle had been one hell of an example.

_'No regrets there.'_ he inwardly chuckled.

The teen glanced at his hands once again and mused. So, how bad would it be to go a bit farther? He had done the deed once, though he had no idea how he had done it. Literally, it had just came to him, regardless of his confusion. Jack nearly chuckled. Sure, it would be more difficult, no doubting that. Yet the idea? Was a bit exciting.

"How would these guys even remember something like this?" he muttered, glancing at his hands, "What, did they keep a flashcard on the back of their arms or something?"

Throughout most of the dream, Jack recalled scores of people, all making dozens upon dozens of hand-signs. Amidst fighting, killing, and dying themselves, and yet they found time to craft such complex gestures without making a mistake. He couldn't make heads or tails of it. It was almost as if they were just pretending, not fully knowing what they were doing.

Jack chuckled. The idea of 'pretending' made a smile appear on his face. Such a novel concept, one that hadn't crossed his mind in years. A time of youth, without worrying about helping his mother with the bills. Before could help with easing up on her already insane work load. No school, no work, and no fretting over the weirdness in his life.

Just a boy playing pretend, acting out whatever his mind thought of.

Dreams, ideas, that seemed so whimsical back then...and so real now.

Turning around, Jack glanced back down the hall and rolled his shoulders. Miko and Raf were still back in the Command Center working on their homework and all but one of the Autobots were out doing something much more important. Inside the base's tunnel, not a soul was around to see.

Sparing a glance at his hands, the teen huffed, "Ah, the hell with it."

Throwing caution to the wind, Jack stared down at his hands and began making hand-signs. The images played within his head, the silhouette of a man with long spiky black hair and gloved hands making hand-signs as well. Silently, the teen followed in motion and carefully replicated each gesture, one after another without missing a beat.

As he watched, Jack kept his eyes trained on his hands, following as they snapped from one gesture to another. Amidst his frantic movements, the teen felt his eyes change from blue to red. Behind his eyes, Jack flew the images come in even clearer, somehow helping him replicate the gestures exactly, even down to the subtlest of twitches.

Everything began to move so fast, so quick that Jack could barely keep track of it himself. But even the, the strangeness didn't stop.

Deep within Jack, as he continued to craft his gestures, something occurred, deep within his body.

At the very center of his chest, a warmth flickered into existence. Dismissible at first, a sudden heat sprang up as Jack's hands continued to form hand-signs. Starting at his chest, like wild flame, the warmth raged throughout the teen's entire body. His lungs, chest, torso, arms, and legs, the heat flowed through everything as if it was his blood.

And the moment Jack finished his gestures, the very second his hands formed the last of the hand-signs, it hit him.

Without a chance to even smirk, Jack yelped. Out of nowhere, the heat burned bright and shut up through the boy's throat. Every vein, blood vessel, and single nerve burned as if they had turned to fire. The teen staggered back and grabbed his throat, barely even able to stand anymore. The sudden pain was so great that he couldn't even yell.

Instead, as Jack gasped, air rushed down his throat and filled his lungs. But with such air, there too much. On reflex alone, the teen felt the same air rush back up his windpipe.

With no choice, Jack exhaled...

_**-FWOOSH!-**_

...and with it, his eyes widened.

A small spark came first. Tiny, insignificant, a mere flicker of embers from the boy's mouth. At a mere glance, one wouldn't even notice them, instead confusing them with a flicker of light. But from this ember, more came. Before Jack's eyes, the spark swelled the second it touched air. The mere contact between these two elements produced something massive, grand and devastating. From a tiny, pathetic spark, real flames poured forth from Jack's mouth, expanding like some sort of balloon.

These flames grew, exploding outward like a rushing river or an intense flamethrower, ravaging the air with enough heat to scar stone itself.

Jack stood frozen, eyes wide in shock. His mind was at a stand still, watching in silence as the flames danced wildly in front of him. In fact, his entire body felt as such. His hands, mouth, and even his lungs were frozen, unable to stop as the flames poured forth, seemingly unending.

Although, such shocking silence caused Jack to miss something. A subtle, pulling sensation, a draining feeling within himself.

However, eventually Jack took a long look at what was happening and yelped. A knee-jerk reaction was what it was, a snap of the muscles, like something akin to your leg kicking at the doctor's office. But with the gasp, the flames shot forward, propelled be the sudden intact of air.

Flying though the air with such speed, the flames smacked directly into one of the tunnel's walls. And the moment they touched, the flames exploded, painting the wall with their heat.

The explosion looked as if it had been plucked from Jack's dreams, leaving the boy shocked into silence. While less than the monstrous detonation that flashed through the boy's dreams, the fire scared the tunnel wall with a black, smoking scorch mark. Ashen smoke rose from the wound, Jack gawking as the stench burned away at his nose.

"T-the hell was..." he whispered to himself, tone shaking and twitching with uncertainty.

Slowly, Jack cautiously raised one of his hands and touched his lips. They were warm, almost unsurprisingly, similar to if he had just drank something warm. The flames had left their mark, though not has much as one would think. He was even a bit shocked, you'd think fire would burn a lot more than-

"No!"

Jack clutched his head and shook it suddenly, "No way! That...that was...I did not just do that!"

Taking a step back, the teen tore his gaze from the scar that marked the wall. He could still smell the smoke in the air, the ash from the flames. But instead of facing it, Jack took a step back across the tunnel, not even wanting to look at it. Instead, he refused to even remotely acknowledge it at all!

"That, did not just happen! I didn't...I didn't just breath fire! Thats insane! I didn't-!"

It just wasn't possible, Jack knew it. There was a lot of things he could believe. The Autobots, his own eyes, and maybe even his dreams to some degree, but fire? Breathing fire?! What was he, part of some freak show that escaped the circus!? Denial was the only thing Jack could feel at the moment, the only thing that made the tiniest bit of sense.

Although, it was a bit hard to deny the sight due to the large scotch mark that was starting the boy in the face.

However, Jack wanted to ignore it. He wanted to keep his attention as far away from the evidence of the fire as he could. With everything that had been going on with his eyes, there was absolutely nothing the teen wanted to do with something so bizarre. He had enough issues of feeling like a freak as it was, but adding a shooting fire out of his mouth was not helpin-

"Hey, Jack?!"

A sudden voice echoed through the base, bouncing off the walls of the tunnel Jack had found himself in. The teen twitched and snapped himself out of this own thoughts, caught off guard by the sudden sound. Frantically, he snapped around, recognizing the voice of one of his friends, "You okay?! What was that noise?"

Realizing it was Miko, Jack shook his head and glanced back up at the scorch mark, biting his tongue, "Uh...it, it was...it was nothing! Nothing at all!"

"You sure?!"

Focusing on the scorch mark for yet another moment, the teen clenched his hands tight, "Ye-yeah! It was nothing!"

"...okay! Now can you come back here and help me!? This stuff is driving me crazy!" Miko yelled, sounding quite desperate.

For a moment, Jack said nothing. Seconds passed, the teen doing nothing but stare up at the burn mark. The smell of smoke was in the air, the heat was still present, and he could hear his own heart beat. It was like a raging animal, wild, savage, and ready to burst from his chest. In fact, his entire body felt on edge, ready to snap at the drop of a needle.

As he stared, Jack narrowed his eyes. He refused to freak out, not because of something like this. Clenching his fist, the teen reigned himself in, calming his body, his nerves, and even his heart.

"Yeah, yeah! Hold on, out be there in a minute!" Jack yelled back down the hall.

"Does that mean you'll help?"

He sighed, shaking his head, "Maybe, just maybe!"

"Seriously?! Sweet!" Miko cheered, Raf chuckling alongside her.

Back down the hall, Jack shook his head. Lifting his head, the teen sent the scorch mark one last look. Merely glancing at it, he felt himself grow tired. His legs felt weak, \hands twitched randomly, and his chest felt akin to have pushed its way through a mile long run. It was odd, a draining feeling across his entire body.

Regardless, Jack pushed the feeling aside, "Its nothing..."

Shaking such thoughts from his mind, Jack continued back down the hall. Dealing with his friends was much more reasonable and less stress inducing than even dealing with one burn had no doubts that he had to deal with it eventually, but for now? Even helping Miko out with her homework seemed more relaxing, an amazement in itself. Though, the girl was quite good at distracting people, be it with her antics or her complaining.

Even if it often appeared at the worst times.

And who knows? Perhaps something else could happen. While walking back, Jack shrugged at the idea. Like the Autobots returning, and having a mission the teens could go on? One that didn't almost involve them getting blown to kingdom come or something? A more...relaxing mission? Like something scout related?

"Yeah..." Jack muttered, "I'd like that."

* * *

_-Unknown-_

* * *

The sky was dark overhead, the night in full motion. The flickering of the stars sat high above in the sky, shining down upon a rather dark and full forest. It stood miles, countless even, away from many avents of civilization. Campers sometimes came to roost, to spend their time away from the hustle and bustle of cities and towns.

Alone, without power or anything else, the forest sat in silence...

Until, something flickered.

High above even the highest trees in the land, something moved. At first, it appeared to be a star, shooting across the sky for just the blink of a moment.

But as the light shot througn the air, it grew. A spec of light was how it began, something so small that one would have to focus on it to even have a chance of seeing it. Then, it got bigger. From a spec, it turned into an orb of light, turning itself toward the planet below, and then it became fire, nothing but fire itself.

A massive, gigantic fireball shot through the air and flew out of the sky. A trail of smoke, more flames, and ash trailed behind it, following it as it flew towards the ground and the forest below.

Small animals. Birds, squirrels, deer, anything that could see the flaming ball instantly took off, running for the hills as the meteor raced towards the ground.

Within mere moments, the massive colossal mass of fire easily neared the Earth's surface. Several trees were nearly lit ablaze as the meteor gazed over them. And once it finally hit, the object made one hell of an impact. The trees were the first to go, the fireball tearing through countless trees, leaving nothing but burnt, broken, and miniscule stumps in its wake. After several seconds of chaos, trees snapping and wood cracking, the fireball came to halt. It settled itself in a rather large crater, its entire surface burning red from the impact.

An eerie silence filled the forest. The sizzling of the meteor being the only sound for miles.

Several minutes passed, the meteor's red surface slowly changing. The burning redness that accompanied it as it fell from the sky began to fade, disappearing into a dark black color. The surface of the strange object was rough, covered in dings and scratches. Despite the damages though, the object's surface wasn't rock as many would suspect. Instead, it was thick, ominous, and smooth as well.

Its entire surface was in fact, metal. It gleamed within the darkness of the forest, the moon's light reflecting over the object's surface.

As the object cooled however, as its surface returned to its natural complexion...it opened.

The massive black structure, still smoking, opened up. A lower portion released a dreadful hiss, a large ramp lowering from the black mass of metal. It sunk into the charged earth, pushing dirt out of the way as it settled upon the planet.

Once it came to a halt, loud thuds began to emerge from the inside of the structure. Like boots against metal, something began to make its way from the inside of the structure, to the outside. Eventually, something emerged from the blackness, ending up upon the ramp itself.

A tall black figure, slender...yet strangely frightening.

Whatever it was, the figure looked up toward the sky, gazing at the starless night. Two purple lights tore through the darkness. Then, the figure stretched its arms, and then its legs...

...all eight of them.

* * *

_NA:  
_

_Well, that chapter was a bit of a pain to do. Quite a pain really, I literally rewrote quite a few parts of this one a few times. It was just a pain, and I'm sorry for taking so long with this one. Next Chapter we get into some fun, I promise.  
_

_Pretty sure any TFP fan knows who that was at the end. I just wanted to actually show the landing. I think I got what should have happened down though._

_As before, any questions? Send them in a review and or PM, Guest reviews though will be ignored. Sorry._

* * *

__RxR- Read &amp; Review please.__


	4. Predator and Prey

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, Viz Media, and Shonen Jump.  
Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro.

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._

* * *

_Chapter: Predator and Prey  
_

* * *

_-Unknown location, middle of dense forest-_

* * *

"I really hate bugs."

Somewhere in a deep forest, Jack smacked himself in the neck. Since arriving in the forest, Jack found himself a primary target of several insects. Flies, gnats, and quite the number of mosquitoes. All types of bugs were irritating the boy, treating him like he was a five course meal or something.

Arcee didn't have an issue of course, being made of metal and all. Luckily, this allowed her to focus on the mission at hand.

A mission being the very reason the duo were out in the middle of a forest to begin with, and it was a bit of a special occasion.

It was a last minute deal, nor was it a sudden emergency that simply required someone of Jack's statue to assist the bots in. This was Jack's first official mission. A simple scouting mission, investigating some of Ratchet's sensors which had detected an Energon spike. Not much admittedly, but the bots were okay with it for once. For the first time since he and the others had been introduced to bots, Jack had finally been cleared to go on a real mission.

A mission that may lead to others in the future...at least, ones that might not get him killed. Jack would be happy with that.

Still, Jack wasn't alone on such a mission. He had been given the mission alongside Arcee, who smirked at the boy while she scanned the area, "Quite the outdoors-men, aren't you Jack?"

The teen raised a brow at the femme, jokingly smirking at her, "You're not making fun of my survival kit, are you?"

Arcee smiled, "Maybe."

"I may not have metal skin Arcee, but in a pinch I could use my Swiss Army knife and magnesium fire Started to cook up a quick meal." Jack chuckled confidently.

Along with such skills, Jack didn't dare mention the other 'unique' traits he possessed. The power to somehow exhale fire from his mouth, see things in ways others could not, and knock MECH agents out with a single kick to the head? None of them seemed particularly normal for a human and Jack didn't even understand them himself. So why would he bother Arcee with the knowledge either?

For the time, Jack felt as if he should keep the news to himself. Especially the fire he had somehow conjured. If there was anything he didn't understand, the fire made the least amount of sense to him. Whatever it was, it was wild, uncontrollable...and unnerving to the teen.

The flames were fire after all, and Jack did not want burn himself on them, physically or mentally.

Arcee smiled and gestured toward the she held, "You have your tools, and I have mine."

Chuckling to himself, Jack continued to follow Arcee as they walked through the forest. Their mission wasn't complicated. A scouting mission for any Energon deposits the bots could find. The Decepticons weren't the only ones who searched for the material after all, and the bots needed it just as much as they did.

As the duo walked though, Arcee's scanner suddenly began beeping. It was sudden, and quite loud, earning the attention of both parties. But when Arcee glanced at the device, a bit of confusion appeared on her face.

"Thats...odd," she muttered, "Ratchet's satellite readings were accurate, but subterranean Energon deposits don't cause this kind of surges..."

Jack raised a brow, not quite sure what to say. He wasn't a tech expert, so there wasn't much that he actually could. So instead, he and Arcee merely continued onward. The forest was thick, with several hills, gaps and various other obstacles to deal with. Mosquitoes were still the most irritating to deal with however, and they made Jack wished he brought something to handle them with.

The forest seemed never ending, with Jack's irritation growing a tad bit more intense as time passed. As the pair pushed closer to their target though, Jack began to notice something. The farther the duo trekked into the forest, the more the trees changed.

Space between them began to increase, the bark grew darker, and even the heights of the tress grew smaller. Some were missing their entire tops as well, the entire trunk having been torn right in half somewhere near the top.

Continuing on despite such discoveries, Arcee came to a sudden stop when her scanner began beeping once again. Jack slowly caught up to the femme, watching curiously as she examined her scanner. But, both of them froze when they saw the source of the disturbance.

A short distance away from the pair sat a massive crater, the earth itself having been torn open like a massive wound. The grass of the forest had been reduced to dust, ash spread across the field like a light snow. Several tree stumps blanketed the outer recesses of the crater, charred beyond recovery. And at the center of the destruction, sat a dark, colossal construct, darker than any of the charred land that surrounded it.

"What happened..." Jack wondered, shocked at the destruction.

Arcee was not as shocked. Instead, the femme narrowed her optics at the broken landscape. She gazed over everything, eventually settling on the very center of the crater, the blackened shape sitting at its core. For some reason, it made her feel uneasy. Like a dark, sickening chill swirling throughout her frame.

"Crash landing..." she muttered.

The question was, what had done it?

"Stay behind me, low and close." Arcee ordered, beginning her trek towards the crater. Jack followed, doing his best to keep up.

Their trek was short lived, but for the pair, it felt like a mile. Arcee constantly kept on guard, glancing at everything she passed. Jack too was on guard, even shifting his eyes just in case. Like his partner, Jack felt...uneasy about something, unsure of what it really was.

Arcee and Jack finally came to a stop near the edge of the crater, ducking behind the remains of a nearby tree. From there, the duo got a good look at the construct. Much to their uneasiness, the construct wasn't a meteor or even a broken ship. Instead, buried deep into the ground at the very center of the crater was a ship, fully intact.

Its hull was scratched, dinged, and charred from the reentry, but it was still in one piece.

Glancing up at the ravaged ship, Jack bit his lip. From its design, Jack could guess that it was Cybertronian. But aside from that, which faction it belonged to was impossible to tell for the boy, any symbols or classifications having been burned from its hull due to the reentry.

"Is it Autobot, or Decepticon?"

Arcee frowned, "Can't tell."

With no more need for the device, Arcee put her scanner away and deployed one of her blasters, "Wait here."

Her weapon in hand, Arcee stood up and carefully approached the vessel. Jack wanted to go along, the unsettling feeling beating quite a hole in his chest. However, due to the uncertainly that came with the ship, Jack remained behind. Even his eyes couldn't pear into the darkened ship, its insides just as black as its hull.

So with nothing he could do for the moment, Jack let out a sigh and watched as Arcee continued onward.

The femme slowly approached the ship, her optics going over every little detail of the vessel, watching for any movement or anything of the like. It was an unknown element after all, who knows what could be inside it? Once nothing appeared however, Arcee made her way towards the ship's entrance.

It was a massive, blackened doorway, a ramp leading down from it. It was like a looming, dark portal in some ways, making Arcee unsettled by just looking at it.

Now there though, Arcee snapped to attention and spun around to face the ship's entrance. Her blaster was always at ready, Arcee waited and watched for even the slightest of movements. Autobot, Decepticon, or anything else, Arcee wanted to see the color of their optics before doing anything. But yet again, nothing appeared, not even the slightest twitch. The entrance remained silent, not even a flicker of life within it.

And with none, Arcee's decision to wait outside of the ship was rendered void. With a sigh, the femme slowly made her way inside, careful for anything that could be waiting for her within.

Jack clenched his teeth as the femme vanished, her form completely eclipsed by the vessel. The minutes passed by slowly, like a painful crawl. Jack could barely even think, the worrying feeling in his gut growing even worse as the seconds passed by. With no way to contact the femme, Jack was alone in the dark, unable to do a thing but watch.

_'Arcee...'_

Seconds and minutes. Both passed by like a hellish standoff. Not a single thing emerged from the vessel's entrance. In fact, the silence only ended minutes later when a sudden crash sounded in the distance. Such as noise instantly caught Jack's attention, causing him to glance upward at the ship's entrance.

There, Jack saw Arcee, standing just off the side of the ship's hull. But once glance at her instantly told Jack that something was wrong. She looked injured, some Energon staining her frame. And her face? It looked...unsettled, not suitable for someone like Arcee.

Not waiting anymore, Jack shot up from his cover and ran over to the femme, "Arcee?!"

Even as Jack through, calling her name, Arcee continued to stare at the ship. Her optics grew wide and her frame was cold...

The things she saw in that ship...the monstrosities, the revolting images. All of them reminded the femme of one certain person, and a certain event...

* * *

_A dark, shadow filled room. _

_Three mechs, one pinned down, unable to move. Another standing up, looming over the third with a horrific gleam in her eyes. And the third, on his knees, optics disoriented._

_Eight legs, thin and black as the darkest pit of space._

_A slash, a clawed servo slashing through the air. Metal cutting metal, Energon splashing through the air..._

_A scream..._

* * *

Snapping out of her memory, Arcee held her helm. There was only one Cybertronian she knew that was sick enough to do such things, and to even keep them in her ship. But if she owned the vessel, then there was no time. The ship hadn't just landed, it had been sitting there for quite some time. And if that was the case, then-

"Arcee!?" a sudden voice called out, catching the femme's attention, "Whats wrong!?"

"I...I know who owns this ship." Arcee muttered, a solemn expression appearing on her face.

Jack blinked confused for a second. What happened inside the ship? What did she see to come to that conclusion? And why did she sound so unnerved? None of it made sense to Jack, and his confusion was made only worse as the time passed by.

Arcee didn't wait for him to question it though. Instead, the Autobot stood up and activated her comms, "Arcee to base, I need a Ground Bridge ASAP."

For seconds there was no reply, only static. A painful, empty static blurring into Arcee's audio receptors.

"Whoa, wait. Arcee, whats wrong?" Jack asked, "Whose ship is this!?"

Again, Jack was ignored. Instead, Arcee tried to contact the base again, sounding more frantic this time, "Arcee to base, do you read!?"

Once more, Arcee heard nothing but static. She didn't even get a jumbled, gargled out, mess of a reply. There was nothing, not even the slightest traces of a reply from base. Whats worse though, was the fact that Arcee knew what the issue was. It was something she had seen more than once before.

"Scrap!" she cursed, "Comm Link's down. Ship must be transmitting a hyper-com sequence scrambling pulse."

Standing up, Arcee walked off and began to make her way back out of the crater. Jack blinked and quickly followed after her, even more confused than before, "Arcee!? Hold on, you're kind of freaking me out here! Seriously!"

Yet again, Jack's questions fell upon deaf ears. Arcee made across the crater before Jack could even catch up, her careful pace from earlier reduced to a stiff and unsettled jog. She stopped directly at the edge of the forest and looked around, as if looking for something.

"Wait here." she ordered Jack, her tone leaving no room for objections.

Jack stopped in his tracks, intentionally surprised by the femme's tone. He had never seen her act in such a way before. Whatever was wrong...well, something was seriously wrong. Jack could tell if it was getting Arcee THIS off her game.

Despite such worry, Arcee made her way into the forest, leaving Jack by the ship.

Inside the forest once more, Arcee carefully walked on with her optics sharpened. Waiting, watching carefully in case something appeared out of the darkness. Nothing appeared though, nothing but several signs scattered amongst the forest. Slashes in the trees, much deeper than what something from Earth could have done.

There were tracks too, numerous ones leading up the trail. They were small, tiny even.

In fact, they looked like something a creature with more than two legs would make...

* * *

_Metal, a dark encrusted room. Chains rattling in the background, a small amount of light peaking in from above. Her arms bound, held in place by thick restraints, unable to wrestle herself free from the bindings._

_Light footsteps approached, her attention snapping upward. _

_A figure, bathed in darkness appeared. Two sickeningly purple optics cut through the blackness, glaring directly at her._

_The sound of a blade rising up, the light bouncing off a single steely claw. A talon connected to a servo, rising up towards her face._

_She tried to pull away, to put distance between the two of them. The talon inched closer, touching right underneath her left optic._

_Metal tearing against metal._

_A terrified scream, ringing out through the chamber..._

* * *

The world returned to Arcee in the flash of a second. She felt herself vent, her optics flickering in distress.

Everything looked the same, felt the same. And if it was her, the same femme...

"Arcee?"

Optics widening, Arcee looked to her side and saw Jack. The boy was standing just off to her side, staring up at her worryingly. God knows how long he had been standing there, watching her freak out like she had been. But the feeling of worry wasn't just limited to Jack.

Arcee didn't even bother replying to Jack. Instead, she transformed right on the spot, collapsing into her vehicle form right next to the teen, "Climb on."

Hesitating for a brief second, Jack did as the femme told and climbed aboard. Such didn't stop him from glancing confusingly at Arcee. If anything, he was even more confused now than he had been minutes prior. She seemed tense, nervous, and even a bit afraid, a concept Jack didn't even think Arcee was capable of.

With Jack secured, Arcee imminently shot forward and flew into the forest. The suddenness of the departure earned a small yelp from Jack as the speed at which Arcee was going seemed quite overboard. She sped past tree after tree, moving like a blue blur through the forest, all while Jack just barely held on. The two were going so uncomfortably fast that Jack nearly felt his grip loosen several times, all of which seemed to go by unnoticed by Arcee.

Eventually though, the duo finally came to a stop after Arcee leaped high into the air after clearing a nearby hill. The action alone nearly gave Jack a heart attack, but he manged to calm down once they landed...for the most part.

"Ow..." Jack muttered, his whole body shaking, "Was that...really necessary?"

With Jack dismounting the bike (wobbling the entire time), Arcee rolled forward and activated her communicator once again, "Arcee to base, do you read me!?"

Seconds passed, but no reply came. Only static once again, "Scrap!"

Letting out a frustrated growl, Arcee deactivated her comms. and started forward once again. Before she got too far though, Jack approached the femme and tried to catch her attention, "Arcee, look. I get it, somethings happening. I've seen danger bef-"

"Wait here." Arcee snapped, cutting Jack off before he even finished, "I mean it this time."

Jack let out an irritated sigh. He was frustrated, irritated, and concerned. Concerned with the femme, what was in that ship, and what to mean to her. All of it was overwhelming and even Jack had his limits, "Okay, what is going on!? First you leave me in the dark, and now you're ditching me?"

At such a question, Arcee transformed and stared down at Jack, "I thought I was your partner?"

"No, you're a kid," Arcee growled, sounding just as frustrated as Jack, "You're only here because this was meant to be a no-risk scenario, got it?"

The children had only been involved previously when the situation left them with no other choice. Like with the 'Scrapyard', Jack was chosen due to the limited options the bots had at the time. Now though, nothing was meant to go wrong. The Mosquitoes were meant to be the worst things got, thats all. If any of the bots, especially Arcee had known what was there, what really triggered Ratchet's sensors then none of them would have allowed Jack to come.

Instead, Jack's presence was only a liability now.

A liability Arcee did not need, not now.

Her case made as clear as possible, Arcee transformed and shot off back towards the ship. As she disappeared though, Jack could feel his jaw clench as he watched. The whole situation felt bad, real bad. But even with that, the teen couldn't believe her words, just how easily Arcee had tossed him aside. She was treating him like some little kid, an annoyance who should have been seen not heard.

And frankly? That pissed Jack off for some reason. He could even feel his eyes burn as he glared in the direction she took off in.

"Okay," he growled, "If thats how you want to do it. Fine."

With Jack silently marching off after Arcee, the femme in question continued to fly through the forest. Her processor was encompassed in a swirling twister of emotions. From the most anger inducing thoughts to the worst of her fears, they were all there. Arcee could barely keep her attention on the forest as they flowed forth, assaulting her mind in every passing second.

It took most of her self-control to push those thoughts to the side, to keep herself on task. If THAT femme was there, then letting herself be compromised was the LAST thing Arcee could afford at the moment. She had to steel herself, push emotions out of the picture, and make certain she as on task.

Those goals burned themselves into Arcee's processor as she drove, making her way back the way she came. If she was dealing with who she thought she was, then Arcee had to start back where she first saw the tracks, the markings of her longtime foe.

Once arriving, Arcee transformed and landed treads first, her blasters instantly activating. She snapped around, surveying the entire area as she walked about. Her optics swirled in every direction, making sure she didn't miss even a branch falling. If she was certain who had arrived on that ship, then she knew how careful she had to be.

So when the femme heard the distinct sound of something...burning, Arcee attention was instantly drawn. But what she saw stopped the bot dead flat.

Just a short distance away was a tree, practically melting due to a strange...green fluid. A fluid, Arcee had seen before.

On a day a long time ago...

* * *

_"Arcee to Delta Team, Requesting Rendezvous coordinates. Do you copy?"_

_Running as she talked, Arcee dodged blaster fire left and right. The entire street was encompassed in battle, chaos raining through the ruins without end. At one point, the area might have been alive, filled with bots simply living. But now, simply being there meant for a fight for survival. _

_"Arcee, you lost again?" a chuckling voice answered, "You're sense of direction could use some improvement."_

_Another blast just barely missed the femme's helm, "So could you're aim Tailgate."_

_"If you took care of that sniper back at that artillery deport, we wouldn't have had to break rank and take care of these Cons hand to hand, now would we?" _

_After blasting one of her pursuers square in the helm, Arcee made her wait into an apparently abandoned plaza. Silence began to pass as she stopped, no sign of her allies or any other contacts appearing within the structure. _

_"And from the sound of things, I guess you came out ahead of things?" Tailgate asked, sounding a tad bit worried._

_Arcee continued to examine the area, her blaster still raised, "Try waiting for me this time, and I'll be sure to give you the blow by blow."  
_

_"Whats you're position?"_

_Even while unable to actually see him, Arcee was sure her partner was smirking, "About half a click from the deport due north. You think you can find that, partner?"_

_"Trust me Tailgate," Arcee chuckled, finally lowering her blaster, "My navigation skills are-"_

_Cut off before she could speak another word, a strange gooey substance slammed into Arcee and propelled her across the plaza. She crashed into a wall, pinned by the substance, unable to move or resist. But she tried, the tough femme that she was. Even as she did though, Arcee looked forward and saw someone approach her._

_It was another femme, slim with black and purple armor covering her frame. Through the darkness, Arcee saw the femme smile before another wad of the sticky material was shot, slamming directly into Arcee's helm. It knocked her out cold, turning everything to darkness._

_But as Arcee awoke later, bound in stasis cuffs, she glanced up when a sadistically cool voice pierced the darkness._

_"Piece of advice, make yourself comfortable..." the femme smirked, raising a talon right up to Arcee's cheek. She dragged the bladed digit right under the bot's face, leaving a painful scar just under Arcee's optic._

_ "You're going to be here for a while..." _

* * *

Servos tightening, Arcee stopped near a nearby tree and leaned against it. Her fingers dug into the wooden surface, cracking and tearing apart the bark like glass.

The memories. Those damn memories were starting to be too much. The pain, shock, and suffering that continued to replay themselves in her mind. That day was one of the darkest in the femme's long life, and even thinking about them was making her shake like a leaf.

Steeling herself though, Arcee raised her blaster and continued onward. If that glitch was there, if that ship had belonged to her, then Arcee couldn't let her get away. Not this time. Things had gone on far enough, and if she was allowed to roam free on Earth? Then there was no telling what could happen, especially if her ship was anything to go by.

So with her pace never faltering, Arcee continued to march through the forest, ever watching. Eventually though, Arcee stumbled upon a nearby hill and briefly hid herself behind a nearby tree. Her blaster still in hand, the femme glanced around the tree trunk and spotted two things immediately.

The first was a small campsite with a tent, a few chairs, and a campfire. All of it was small with only a few humans occupying it. But just to the side, in the distance, Arcee saw a tall figure running across the ground. Armor as black as night and sharp to even look at, the femme had a strange similarity to Arcee, aside from the several legs sprouting from her back.

She moved fast, scurrying around the ground like a spider with a speed that was almost silent. So silent in fact that the campsite had no idea of what was approaching, with claws sharp and ready for the kill.

Her optics widening, Arcee jumped out from behind the tree and leaped toward her foe. The duo met in the air, Arcee intercepting the femme before she could even touch the ground again. The force of their meeting sent the duo flying, crashing into the ground and rolling even further down the hill.

The trip down the hill was a rough one. Both femmes struggled against each other, clawing and punching as they rolled. The grass and dirt beneath the pair was crushed, torn up, and thrown into the air as well, their metal frames easily roughing up the landscape.

Arcee sneered and cursed at the femme in her arms, furiously punching and slugging at the figure. Her blasters were useless at such a short range, but her attempts to tear the femme's helm off were no less vicious. Simply being so close to the femme made her Energon boil! It was sickening.

Eventually, both Arcee and her foe's stumbling came to an end when they reached the bottom of the hill. The flatness of the ground stopped the two flat and sent both bots flying, with Arcee crashing into a nearby cliff-face while her foe slid across the muddy ground. But as the Autobot struggled to stand, her blackened foe stood up with six legs sprouting from her back.

"Arcee..." she smiled, a sickening delight staining her tone, "Small Universe..."

Glancing upward, Arcee sneered.

"Too small...Airachnid."

The femme chuckled, her tone seductive and sickening, vicious and soothing. It was like someone was trying to make the act of being tortured sound pleasant, and it made Arcee's frame shiver in disgust.

"Still holding a grudge?" Ariachnid mused, "Arcee, the wars been over for mega-cycles now."

Arcee growled with tightened servos, "Tell that to the Decepticons."

Watching as the Autobot snapped into a fighting position, Airachnid chuckled, "Really? Well, these days I travel solo. Best way to enjoy my new hobby."

Memories flashed inside of Arcee's mind. The images of what she saw on Airachnid's ship flashed passed her optics. Horrific, terrible, and gruesome sights. Creatures of various sizes and shapes, each of them preserved in a nice little case. Many weren't in the best of condition...and every single one of them were dead. Horribly, horribly dead.

"I got a look at your souvenir case." she sneered.

Arachnid chuckled, sounding almost proud, "You mean my trophies? Endangered species, each and everyone of them."

"Of course, they aren't endangered until they've met me, but still." she chuckled darkly, "And I've got one special one reserved for humanity."

Arcee scowled, "Not going to happen!"

Not about to waste her time on anymore words, Arcee charged Airachnid with a furious sneer. Her fist was pulled back, ready to pound the smile right off Airachnid's face.

In response, Airachnid lifted all but two of her legs into the air and stabbed forward. The thin, multi-jointed limbs cut through the air like butter, aiming to tear right through Arcee's joints as she ran. But, just at the last second, Arcee turned to her side and wrapped one of her arms around the femme's limbs. It was sudden and easily caught Airachnid off guard, allowing Arcee to pull her forward with her own legs.

Then, with one final pull, Arcee pulled Airachnid right off her last legs and threw her across the ground, slamming her into a the same cliff-face as before.

The impact twisted and fractured the femme's frame, sending Airachnid's processor for a loop. She quickly recovered, struggling to stand up once more. As she did so, Arcee reactivated her blasters and fired, blue streaks of energy sailing through the air. Despite the suddenness of the attack though, Airachnid easily manged to leap up into the trees and avoided the blasts. Now high above her foe, Airachnid shot a long trail of webbing at Arcee, striking the femme's blasters dead on.

The webbing not only tied up Arcee's blasters, but it also connected the pair, like a pair of chains. And like chains, Arcee and Airachnid tried to tug the other towards themselves, using the webbing like a thick rope. Airachnid pulled form above, in the trees while Arcee pulled back from the ground. Each femme put all their strength into it, attempting to overpower the other.

It was like a game of 'Tug-of-war' at first, with neither side giving in. But eventually, Arcee manged to get a foothold with her stance on the ground and brought Ariachnid down from her perch. The Spider stumbled and fell from the trees, the wooden frames unable to hold her anymore. She smashed face first into the earth, grass staining her helm.

Airachnid now dazed, Arcee focused on freeing herself from the strange webbing. For a time, her attempts proved fruitless due to the strength material. It was like solid cement, unable to be pulled apart. But as her for began to recover just a few yards away, an idea struck Arcee.

_'Yeah, that'll work.'_ Arcee decided.

Glancing downward, Arcee pulled one of her legs up and gently pushed the webbing into her knee. It was sharp, more than enough to pierce a Vehicon's hide. And, it was more than enough to cut through the webbing.

Which it did.

Tearing the material from her servos, Arcee smirked to herself and fired on Airachnid again. The femme was still on the ground and partly out of it, earning Arcee more than a few hits. But once those registered, Airachnid snapped to attention and returned fire, using blasters hidden in her own hands.

A firefight between the two femmes quickly broke out, utterly tearing apart the environment. Trees were burned, grass was charred, and the femmes themselves were more than a bit scuffed up by the end of it.

Eventually though, the battle of blasters finally came to an end when one of Arcee's blasts struck just inches from Airachnid's face. She wasn't harmed, but the second of hesitation allowed for Arcee to charge the femme once more, utterly shortening the distance between them.

Airachnid quickly recovered from the distraction and attacked Arcee again with her blasters. To dodge this, Arcee used the trees themselves to avoid her foe, leaping from tree branch to tree branch as she approached. Once near enough, the Autobot used yet another branch and spun herself around it, gaining quite an amount of momentum before launching herself at Airachnid.

This speed combined with a well placed kick easily knocked the spider on her behind, allowing Arcee to leap atop the fallen bot and point her blasters directly into Airachnid's face.

Silence quickly encompassed the battlefield. Arcee could feel the tension in her blasters. She was so close, just seconds away from ending this stain on the universe. Airachnid too just glared up at Arcee, a hiss escaping what seemed to be the last moments of her retched existence. But before either of the two femmes could react, a sudden sound of stumbling rocks caught both their attention.

Just to the side, Arcee gasped when she saw a familiar looking figure sliding down a nearby hill.

It was Jack. How he had followed the femme in such a short time was baffling, even with how tired he looked. The mere sight of him though filled Arcee with dread. The dread of what could happen now that both he and Airachnid were so close together. It made terrible, horrific ideas flood her mind, chilling her to her spark.

Such thoughts weren't the only thing Jack's appearance brought however. By merely seeing the boy, a sadistically gleeful smirk appeared on Ariachnid's face.

By using the temporary distraction, the femme kicked Arcee off of her and sent the bot stumbling to the side. Arcee quickly got back to her feet, weakened but not out of the fight yet. Airachnid however, was not in the mood for more fighting and instantly pelted Arcee with more webbing, effectively pinning the femme back against the cliff-side once again.

"Arcee!" Jack shouted, running off to help the femme. This was not what Jack had been suspecting to see once he FINALLY caught up to Arcee. The boy's eyes had been his only method of finding the femme again, and upon arriving? Unknowingly causing such a situation was not the boy's intention, at all.

Intentions or not, Jack's shout instantly caught the attention of Airachnid, who gleefully turned her gaze on the boy. The mere look in the spider's eyes instantly made Arcee frantically struggle against the webbing, desperate to get out. Thankfully though, another idea hit the femme like a brick, this time being the use of her arm blades.

One quick activation and a large blade unfolded from Arcee's arm, slicing through the webbing like butter and freeing her once more.

With one of her arms free, Arcee reformed her hand into her blaster and shot at Airachnid, striking the Spider right in the center of her head.

The force of the blast easily knocked Airachnid back and away from Jack, sending her sprawling into the background. Once landing, the spider-bot struggled to stand with a hiss. But with the blunt trauma of the blast striking her already frazzled processor, the femme collapsed back onto the ground, unconscious while her legs shriveled up like a real spider.

Arcee sighed and tiredly held her head. She was nearly exhausted, both mentally and physically. Seeing, fighting, and beating Airachnid had taken so much out of the femme that she couldn't even put it into words. But what she could put into words was the rage she felt when Jack approached, his concerned expression be damned.

"I told you to wait for me!" she sneered, yelling at the boy.

Jack, likely due to his frustrations with the femme's attitude, didn't even flinch at that. Instead, the boy shook his head and tried to help peal the remaining web from Arcee.

"Well, partners don't ditch partners, do they?" Jack countered, much to Arcee's aggravation.

"Get this through your thick head! You're not my partner; you're a liability!" she sneered, being as forceful as she possibly could._  
_

Those words cut through Jack like a hot knife, hitting him at his core. The entire reason he had joined Arcee on her mission was so he wouldn't be a bother, a weakness to the team and to her. Even at his very center, Jack hated the idea of being weak, of being a burden. He helped his mother by getting a job just for that very reason. Being a liability meant he couldn't help someone when the time came and for some reason, Jack despised that idea.

Still, Jack pushed such pain aside and stared directly into Arcee's optics, his own shining quite red.

"I don't believe you," he replied, "I can see it in your eyes. You're afraid Arcee, and you're NEVER afraid."

It had been something Jack had noticed ever since Arcee emerged from that ship. She was unhinged, concerned, and nervous. And given everything Jack knew about the femme, that wasn't right. Arcee was strong, confident, and a stern person at the end of the day. So seeing her unsure and shaken? It was a red flag, down to the very slightest of details.

Arcee was afraid, and Jack knew it.

The femme turned away and let out a small whimper. She felt ashamed...

No. It was much worse than that.

* * *

_"You're quite resilient, you know that?" Airachnid mused, "For an Autobot I mean. In fact, I doubt you'll crack no matter what I do to you."_

_Arcee said nothing, as she had for her entire stay in her hellish prison. The time she had been there was unknown, even to her. Days? Weeks? Months? She had no idea. All Arcee did know, was that Airachnid had been enjoying their time together for nearly the whole time as well._

_At least, till now._

_"Am I right?" Airachnid asked, earning nothing but a glare in return, "I thought so."_

_Across the chamber, a door suddenly opened. It was bright, shining light throughout the cell. It caught both Arcee and Airachnid's attentions, making them watch as two Vehicons walked in. They dropped off a single mech right in the middle of the chamber. He had a white body, and groaned as he sat. But Arcee? Her optics widened when she saw him._

_"Tailgate..." she whispered._

_Her shock then turned to anger, for which she aimed at her 'host', "What did you do to him!?"_

_Airachnid chuckled, "Oh, nothing much...yet."_

_Stepping way from Arcee, the Spider began circling the two partners, "All you have to do is tell me what I want to know or, well...You're a smart bot. So I'm sure you can think of what'll happen."_

_Arcee stopped, her frame going silent, "I don't know the coordinates."_

_It had been the question she had been pegged with since her arrival, and until now she had refused to even answer. But even with her frantic response, Airachnid scowled. One of her legs raised itself over Tailgate, its pointed edge hovering over his chest-plate, like a knife about to strike._

_"I swear! I don't know!" Arcee begged, "Please!"_

_Airachnid glanced at the femme, her eyes sadistically dark, "We shall see."_

_Watching as the limb was pulled back, Arcee struggled against her chains. She pulled, almost to the point of breaking her arms. But nothing happened, the chains were just too strong. Arcee could do nothing but watch, begging as it happened right before her very eyes._

_"No! Please...No! No! NO!"_

_"TAILGATE!"_

* * *

Arcee gasped, suddenly venting as the memory faded. She could still feel the pain, the horror of that very moment. And upon seeing it again, Arcee glanced down at Jack. The boy who was still trying to free her from the webbing, despite his efforts proving to be useless. The webbing was just too strong.

"Okay...you're right..." she mumbled, catching the boy's ears, "You're right, Jack. I am afraid..."

"I'm afraid...Of losing you!"

Everything stopped right then for Jack. His body refused to move, his eyes widened, and his gaze just barely met Arcee's own, "...what?"

The femme nodded, just barely. The pain on her face was too much, even for words. But before Jack could make even a slight comment, a cool...sadistic voice cut through the silence, shocking the both of them.

"You sure have trouble hanging onto partners, now don't you?"

Slowly turning around, both Arcee and Jack froze at what they saw.

It was Airachnid, fully awake and smiling. She strolled closer to the duo, with Arcee freezing up while Jack stood in front of her almost protectively. The boy might have been small, but he was damn determined to protect his partner, no matter what was threatening the two of them.

"We all know about Tailgate after all." Airachnid mused, smiling at the pained expression on Arcee's face, "But I even heard from a little Con's radio that Cliffjumper has passed away too. A pity, isn't it?"

The Spider's words burned. They were like a sickness, burning everything they touched. Jack wanted to scream to tell her to shut up. They just made him so angry, for what they were doing to Arcee and what they meant. The sheer revolting nature of them, picking at the most vulnerable parts of the femme. She was basically digging her finger into Arcee's wounds, and the pain? It was all over Arcee's face.

"At this point, I'd really be asking myself..." she sarcastically mused, "Is it me, or them?"

Those words finally sent Arcee over the edge. She couldn't hold back her panic any longer. Any hope she could have was silently vanishing, so Arcee had to act now. Before it was too late.

"Jack, run." she muttered, "You need to go, now..."

Taking his eyes off Airachnid just for a second, Jack glanced up at Arcee confusingly, "What? I'm not going to-"

"You don't understand!" Arcee frantically cut him off, "She isn't here for me! Airachnid is collecting things! Its what was in her ship! A planets indigenous species! And on Earth, that means humanity!"

"And that..." she muttered, fear overtaking her voice, "That means you!"

Time seemed to slow down for Jack, just for that instance. The fear, all of Arcee's fear shot right into the boy's heart, alerting him to just how serious she was. But as it happened, Jack's mind went into overdrive. He connected so many dots that his mind felt like a word puzzle. So much about how Arcee was acting now made sense. The frantic tones, the orders to stay away, and the harsh words. All of it was to keep Jack away from Airachnid.

And here he was, standing just in the middle of the spider's nest...

_'Shit...'_

"Jack," she cried, all her fear manifesting in one word.

"RUN!"

That word nearly fractured Jack's mind. One side of him wanted to stay, to help Arcee. After all, she was defenseless at the moment, stuck to a damn wall. How else could she defend herself?! But then again, Jack couldn't defend himself either. He was simply a human, and if he stayed...then he would die. No doubt about it.

And then, how could he help anyone?

Eventually though, it was a glance at Airachnid herself that set the boy's mind straight. The spider was just so sinister, just the way she looked at him. One look easily told Jack what she was planning. His eyes could even pierce her optics, allowing him to see into her sickening spark. And what he saw...

...was horrifying.

Without waiting a single moment longer, Jack snapped to the side and did the only thing his mind could process.

He ran.

Ran, ran, and ran even more. Jack ran as fast and hard as he could. Even when he heard the sound of Airachnid shooting yet another glob of webbing at Arcee. He nearly bit his tongue when such a sound met his ears but Jack didn't stop. He ran towards the hill and began to scale it, hoping to put some distance between him and Airachnid.

Back with said femme though, Airachnid chuckled as Jack made his escape and walked over to Arcee, "And that, is why I prefer to work alone."

Arcee bit back a sneer and struggled against the webbing. As she tried to break free, Airachnid savored the moment and used a single talon to life Arcee's helmet up just to look her at eye level. The rage, pain, and frustration in the femme's eyes were just too sweet to resist, even for Airachnid,

"Its so sad when something happens to one so close to you..." she mused with a fake bit of sorrow. It was so obvious that Arcee wanted to slug the spider in the face so bad that it wasn't even funny, if she wasn't trapped at least.

Instead, Arcee was forced to watch as Airachnid began to scale the cliff-side, laughing even while upside down, "Oh, but don't get me wrong. I still plan on snuffing your your spark. That hasn't changed."

"And trust me..." she hissed, "I am going to make it _hurt_."

Arcee flinched, and tried to pull her helm away. She did manged to do so, but only when Airachnid released her with a small pat on her cheek.

"But-!" the Spider smiled, far too cheerful for her own good, "That won't even compare to how much it'll hurt for you to know that your little human will be joining my collection, very soon."

Her intentions made purely known, Airachnid glanced over her shoulder and watched as Jack ran for his life. Amazingly, the boy had already made it to the very top of the same hill where Arcee and Airachnid had began their struggle. But the moment he reached the very top, Jack glanced over his should and met eyes with Airachnid. His blue eyes and her vile optics met for only the briefest of moments.

Yet, those seconds were more than enough to motivate the boy to run once more. And Airachnid? She laughed, even when Jack disappeared into the trees, she laughed. To her, it was like watching a mouse scurry away with no idea what was coming, and it amused her to no end.

"Oh, I do love it when they run." she smiled.

Flashing Arcee one final smirk, Airachnid pushed off the cliff side and landed back onto the ground.

The very ground itself shook like an earthquake had struck. Leaves fell from the trees, and dirt crumbled in the distance. And during it all, Airachnid smiled, her legs spreading out like a hunter ready to leap after her prey. Then with one push, she shot off after the poor boy, scaling the hill within a matter of seconds.

Back in the field though, Arcee slumped against her prison. She was trapped, still unable to escape the femme's webbing. She could struggle, attempt to free herself once again, but the deed had already been put into motion. She was trapped, like a prisoner once again...forced to watch as events began to repeat themselves all over again.

"No..." she muttered in denial, "Jack...NO!"

It was happening again, that was what Arcee was seeing. The same events playing out again, and she could STILL not do anything to stop it.

Tailgate was the first, then Cliffjumper, and now Jack. All of them were going to be killed by the same damn Spider and it was all Arcee's fault.

None of it was fair, not at all. What had she done to deserve this!? What had they done to deserve this?! Was she cursed? By Primus himself? Was it fate?! Arcee had no idea. She simply knew the grim truth, the suffering that was about to take place. All of which, was done due to her own actions.

It was her fault and her fault alone.

Yet again...

* * *

_"I couldn't save him!" she cried, "I couldn't save my partner!"_

_She cried as she was freed from her bounds, as her comrades carried her out of that hellish cell. Even now that she was safe, in the hands of people she knew and trusted, Arcee couldn't say much else._

_Moments before, Arcee had been chained up, in the same position she had been in since she had been thrust into Airachnid's clutches. But unlike before, there was no life in the femme's eyes. She was silent, limb, and numb. There were no sneers or growls, no struggling against her chains. Arcee was as silent as her partner was dead, the only trace of movement on her being a slight tremble._

_For a time, Arcee was silent, broken. Just like her partner._

_Ariachnid watched just from a few feet away. She stared into the femme's dead optics and raised up one of her claws. It was the same one she had used to end Tailgate. It was even still stained by his Energon, and now? She was going to use it to end Arcee as well._

_Two partners with the same claw._

_But seconds before the strike could be made, Airachnid was distracted when the far side of the chamber exploded. It was decimated, the chamber's door was utterly torn apart and thrown aside, nearly crashing into the femme herself. Airachnid let out a horrid hiss and escaped into the darkness, leaving Arcee chained up in her cell._

_Two mechs entered the chamber, a red and yellow one. They scanned the room and approached Arcee, freeing her from her bonds. After a few words, they then began to carry the poor femme out of the hellish room, leaving it behind for the rest of time._

_But no relief came to Arcee, or freedom._

_Only failure..._

_Her own failure._

* * *

Arcee hung her head, reality once again returning. But alone with reality, came guilt.

The femme slumped against the cliff-face, the webbing being the only thing keeping Arcee standing. There was no avoiding it anymore, not for Arcee or anyone else. What happened to her partners, what happened to Jack, all of it was her fault. It was her fault that she had gotten caught, that Airachnid was on her tail, and it was her fault for bringing Jack along too.

She should have left him at the base, should of told him about what was going on. Instead, she had simply shunned him, hoping to deal with the mess herself. To sweep the whole thing under a rug, like a child trying to hide her mess from her parents.

A mess that was now unleashed, and a mess that was now hunting Jack like a wild beast.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered, barely even speaking, "I should have just kept driving...just kept going."

That one day, where Arcee hid just outside Jack's workplace. If she had chosen somewhere else, just drove past it, then Jack would be home. He would be safe. But because she hadn't, he was running for his life. And, he was going to die. Just like Tailgate, just like Cliffjumper, Jack was going to die.

He was going to die, and it was her faul-

"No." Arcee swore, her servos tightening, "No...no, NO!"

Snapping upward, Arcee immediately struggled against the webbing. She pounded, kicked, and pulled on the material with a fiery drive pushing her forward. She was not going to let it happen again. Arcee wasn't just going to sit back and watch one more person be claimed by that witch. Not while she could do something about it.

She was there, she was present, and she wasn't in chains this time.

As a new idea popped into her head, Arcee vowed right then and there. Airachnid was not claiming another one of her partners.

Not this day.

* * *

_-Meanwhile-_

* * *

_"I'm sorry, there is no service in the present area. Please try again later."_

Ripping his phone from his ear, Jack glared down at the piece of plastic, "Oh come on! Are you serious!?"

The sun began to set, encompassing the forest in a thick blanket of darkness. Even with such a blackness though, Jack continued to run. His lungs burning, the boy leaped over logs, zipped around trees, and ducked under branches. He never stopped moving, and never dared to look back.

Never daring to gaze at what was chasing him.

His attempts to call for help were about as useless as Arcee's. Whatever was blocking the Autobot's vastly more powerful transmitter was easily taking care of the teen's phone as well. He was alone, running for his life in a forest that seemed to have no end at all. In fact, the forest itself made Jack feel like he was in a maze. A giant maze.

With Jack as the mouse, and Airachnid as the massive, bloodthirsty cat.

Biting his lip, Jack's brain quickly tried to think of something. Even as he jumped over a fallen log, Jack was going overdrive with his mind. Ideas, thoughts, concerns, strategies. Anything he could think of, it all few through Jack's head, whether he knew it or not.

All the boy knew was that he had to run, he had to keep on running.

Jack barely even had the time to think of something besides running. What about Arcee? Was she safe? Did that Spider leave her alone? Where was Jack going? Could he escape? Could he contact the bots in time if his phone didn't work? And of course, that all important one...could he make it out alive at all?

So many questions, and yet no answers at all.

_'Okay, need to think._' Jack reminded himself, his eyes rapidly spinning as he scanned the environment, _'Anything would be good.'_

The strategic, the smart part of Jack's mind knew he had to think of something. Anything. He couldn't just keep running, not against a Cybertronian. For if Jack couldn't think of something, anything else, he knew what would happen. The inevitable, what was coming no matter how far he ran. Sooner or later, Jack as certain that she would-

"Hello, Jack~"

-find him!

With his eyes snapping open with nearly inhuman speed, Jack pushed himself to the side as fast as he could. It was like a linebacker cutting right before he was tackled, Jack's legs turning his body just inches before he collided with something. That something being a massive hand, a clawed servo that dug into the ground like butter the second it touched dirt.

Rolling to the side, Jack stopped for a moment and caught his breath. As he did so, the teen saw Airachnid, suspended in the air with her legs digging into the nearest sets of trees.

The femme smiled, "Its so nice to meet you..."

"Yeah, well." Jack grumbled, "The feelings not mutual."

Airachnid frowned, looking somewhat hurt, "Aw, now don't be like that. All of Arcee's other partners have always picked the worst times to introduce themselves and I hoped you'd be different. After all, the first one died after I met him, and poor Cliffjumper..."

Jack scowled, his eyes spinning wildly, "Shut up..."

"...both cut down, all because of one common mistake." Airachnid smirked, "Really, she has to be quite unlucky. Its almost like shes cursed. Everyone Arcee is near normally dies..."

Those words struck a core in Jack. Up till then, the boy was just sitting there, partly terrified of the massive arachnid. But at the very mention of those words, just how lightly she took her actions, the torment both those instances caused to Arcee? It set a fire in the boy's heart, starting from his chest and worked its way all the way to his eyes.

"I said shut...up..." he growled.

Airachnid chuckled, "And to think, people call me a monster-"

"SHUT UP!"

Without really thinking, Jack leaned forward and plucked a rock from the forest floor. It was small, barely enough to fit in his hand, like a baseball. And like one, Jack stepped forward and chucked the rock through the air. It moved at a speed that didn't seem possible, acting like a blur as it cut through the air. And just after leaving Jack's hand, the rock smashed against Airachnid's faceplate, cutting the femme off as it crumbled against her cheek.

The femme was instantly silenced, just as Jack was. He hadn't even felt himself pick up the rock, let alone throw it. But what shocked Jack the most was the fact that he actually hit Airachnid, striking the femme right underneath her left optic.

"Wow..." Jack mumbled, amazed.

However, the amazement of such a feat died down when Jack locked eyes with Airachnid.

Like a black void, all of the amusement was gone from her eyes. Instead, there was a mix of shock...evil, and sadistic rage. And all of it was directed right at Jack.

Suddenly, throwing the rock seemed like a VERY bad idea.

So much so that the second Jack realized this, he was off once again. He ran, leaving Airachnid behind. But unlike before Airachnid didn't simply let the boy get a head start. Oh, she followed him, quite quickly. The trees acted like stepping stones, guiding the femme through the forest without even touching the ground once. She was like a real spider, crawling across a web and gazing down at her prey.

Waiting until it was nice and...ready.

"Ha!"

With a sudden hiss, Airachnid shot down from above and snatched Jack from the ground. Her servos wrapped themselves around the boy's torso and squeezed. Jack didn't even have a chance to yelp before he left the ground. It was a moment of weightlessness, one that ended when Airachnid pressed Jack up against a nearby tree. The very trunk of the tree was pressed up against Jack's back, Airachnid's servos easily dragging the boy up its side until he eye to eye with the Spider's optics.

Watching the boy squirm in pain, Ariachnid smiled, "Well, I've got to give it to Arcee at least. She sure knew how to pick'em. You're quite the runner for something so small, and that rock? Didn't see that coming either."

Jack huffed, trying desperately to get some air back into his lungs, "Glad...I could be so entertaining..."

As the Spider gleefully watched, Jack struggled. He kicked his feet, pushed with his arms, and even tried to slip himself out of the femme's hands. But no matter what he tried, Jack found that Airachnid wasn't going to let go all that easily. She was enjoying her new toy far too much, even if she was close to breaking it.

Airachnid let out a devious chuckle, something so vile that it made Jack's skin crawl, "Oh, you were. I can even see why Arcee keeps someone like you around…"

A sudden gasp escaped from Jack. Airachnid's servos pressed even harder on the boy, practically squeezing the life out of him. Any more pressure and Jack would surely begin to hear his ribs start to crack.

"Who would have known your kind would be so...amusing."

One of the most devious smiles then worked is way onto Airachnid's face. She lifted up one of her fingers and gently began to drag it across the tree's surface. An action that seemed so casual to her easily began tearing the bark from the tree, leaving behind a scare that would never heal. And with such a scar, the femme's claw gently edged itself closer to Jack's head.

Like a knife approuching a smooth piece of flesh, about to slice it open.

Jack instantly twitched at the mere sound of it. He could feel the tree vibrate, the sound of his approaching doom getting ever closer. It made the boy's mind go into overdrive, thinking of anything and everything he could possibly do. Stupid ideas, what-if ideas, and some of the most impractical ideas Jack could think of. Each of them flashed through his head while his subconscious began tossing them aside as soon as they arrived, like burned out lottery cards.

Every idea, every concept, and every little thing he could do. Jack considered it and tossed it away in turn.

_'Come on, think!'_ he snapped at himself, _'Think! Think! THINK! I gotta move! Now!' _

Airachnid's servo inched closer to the teen, her talon tearing up bark as it moved. Jack could even feel the flacks beginning to bounce off the side of his face.

_'Scrap!'_

Still trying to free himself, Jack found his efforts proving to quite fruitless. Nothing he did seemed to be working, his struggles only resulting in Airachnid's amusement. The Spider was nearing the point of laughing at the boy, like if she was watching a little ant frantically trying to preserve its insignificant existence. Quite amusing, yet all the more pointless.

But, there was still one thing he could do. It was risky, and he had only done it once before...by accident...

_'Screw it!'_

An accident was surely more promising than simply waiting to get his head popped off like a bottle cap! So with it decided, Jack abandoned his attempts to free himself through strength alone and himself together. Then with his hands still shaking like a leaf, Jack began to weave his fingers through a series of hand-signs.

It would take some time, but Jack had a feeling he could manage it.

Thankfully, Airachnid seemed more than amused by his antics, "Ah, I love it when they squirm..."

Such words nearly made Jack fumble right then and there. How many times had Airachnid done this to someone? Watch as her prey struggled in its last moments, taking so much glee in seeing their last breaths fall from their bodies. Merely even looking at how much amusement she was taking from his suffering was almost too much, even for him.

Luckily though, Jack's memorization payed off in spades. His hands never fumbled, even when an extra large piece of bark bounced off his face.

Then, after a few seconds of his heart being about ready to burst out of his chest, Jack finished with one final hand-seal. It took the shape of both hands holding themselves together, his index fingers pointing straight up while the rest were intertwined. Jack could feel his hands shake, his breath was shallow, and his palms wet too. But by the end, Jack felt a familiar feeling building up in his chest.

With his work done, Jack glanced up at Airahnid, almost earning a coo out of the sadistic femme, "Oh...whats with that look?"

Jack said nothing, not even a word. Instead, the teen tightened his hands and took one of the deepest breaths he could mange. Airachnid thought for a moment that it was the last one Jack would mange before dropping dead flat in her hands.

But, even Airachnid couldn't have imaged what actually came out.

For instead of air, Jack spewed forth a entire wall of fire. It was wild, uncontrolled, like a force of nature itself. The fire even swelled the moment it touched air, becoming even bigger. But as it spewed out of Jck's mouth, the fire shot forward like a flaming bullet and found itself colliding with the only thing that was in font of Jack at that very moment.

But, comments were the last thing Airachnid had in mind. Instead, she only had a split second to react to the inferno, her face going from a sadistically gleeful expression to one of pure shock.

Glee, to shock, and finally...to pain.

Gliding itself between the two within seconds, the fire exploded like a bomb the moment it touched Airachnid, engulfing her entire head in a massive cloud of flames. A second of hesitation was all that could escape before Airachnid screamed, her servos releasing her prey and clutching her face instead, the searing her metal exterior. The fire nearly wrapped itself around her metal head, covering it entirely with burning flames.

Now free, Jack plummeted toward the ground like a rock, eventually landing on his feet with a small stumble. It as a long fall though, as Jack instantly felt his legs grow tired from the impact. That was not all though. A sudden tiredness returned as well, filling Jack with a feeling of exhaustion. It felt as if he had ran a small mile if not more. But even with all of that, Jack grinned at the sight in front of him.

"I can't believe that worked..." he whispered to himself.

The fire danced around Airachnid's head, like a storm of fire. To even think that he could knock a Cybertronian off her game like that was a fool's idea to be certain. And yet the sight of Airachnid flailing around with her head ablaze could not be denied. The satisfaction it produced was something Jack took pride in, almost wishing he had a camera to record it on.

However, the fire did not last. The intinsity of the fire easily sucked up all the air in the area. And with its fuel gone, the blaze of flames quickly cooled into a puff of smoke.

"Oh no..." Jack whispered.

The vanishing of the flames left Jack gazing at a cloud of blackness. But within this smoke Jack could feel himself being watched. Like a demon within the void, two purple optics emerged from the cloud, cutting through the darkness like an evil gaze. It promised death, pain, and all the suffering in the world. But the worst of it only came when the gaze turned around...and found Jack, sitting just a few feet away.

With a yelp, Jack instantly shot to his feet. He did his best to ignore the pain in his legs, which felt as if someone had stabbed him with hot iron. Never the less, Jack held no hesitation and ran off, taking off in the closest direction he could find. As the boy vanished though, the figure pulled itself from the smoke, revealing just how much damage his fire had actually caused.

Soot and ash covered Airachnid's entire heard. From the very tip of her helm to her chin, the femme was burned. Chunks of her helmet were even still burning red, as if it had been pulled right from a forge. But even so, Airachnid seemed perfectly functional despite all of that. If anything, she was only slightly damaged.

And that...angered her, tremendously.

"Crap!" Jack yelped, focusing back on the path in front of him. He could practically feel the rage radiating off her frame, and it was being directed squarely at him.

As such, Jack only had one goal at the moment. Escape, to put as much distance between him and Airachnid as possible.

Which wasn't that easy of a goal. As seconds after he had began his run, Airachnid was once again on the boy's tail, her expression furious and legs tearing through anything that got in her way. Trees splintered, rocks crumbled, and foliage was upturned. All of it fueled by the Spider's rage, her amusement taking a backseat for a moment.

Jack didn't let himself be distracted by such rage however. The boy instead focused on staying ahead of the spider-bot. He pushed as much strength as he could mange into his legs, even letting the strange warmth from before overtake him. The speed Jack was running became so fast that he even nearly tripped several times.

But no matter how fast he ran, Airachnid was always just a few steps behind him. The thin, multi-jointed legs constantly propelled the spider over anything that could impede her hunt. She was truly a hunter, and Jack was her pray.

_'Need to think of something...anything!'_

It was this drive that gave Jack focus, gave him momentum enough to keep running. His legs burning from overuse, his feet aching, and his heart was beating a mile a minute, and yet he continued to run. He ran until Airachnid disappeared into the trees behind him, a small moment of rest gracing the boy's feet.

Even so, the sounds of Airachnid's servos were ever present, racing towards the boy through the dense foliage of the forest. Jack might not have seen her, but he could almost feel the sickening presence rushing towards him like a maddening storm. His eyes twisted and twirled, keeping the boy on constant edge.

So even while running, Jack felt a sudden shiver tickle the back of his next. It was warning him, whispering into his ears of what was about to happen. So when Jack glanced over his shoulder, the boy's eyes went wide. Something flashed behind the boy, something so fast that it didn't seem possible to notice it.

But even at such speed, Jack saw it. And the moment he did, the boy instantly ducked behind a tree.

The tree was more than large enough for a human to hide behind it. The moment Jack hid behind it though, the boy's entire body went silent. He could feel something, a chill radiating through the air. And while he couldn't see anything at the moment, Jack kept his ears open until-

"Now, where did you wonder off to..."

Airachnid lumbered forward, her legs stabbing into the dirt and wood like searing knives. Jack's assault had still left quite a mark on the femme, her face smoking from the burning explosion.. She crawled and slithered through the trees, barely making a sound aside from the creaking of her surroundings. Her servos clawed across tree and bark, pushing them out of the way as her sickly purple optics scanned through every inch of the forest.

Even the subtlest of things, from a small bird flapping in the distance to a insignificant little squirrel. Airachnid noticed all of it.

As such, the femme's gaze eventually fell on a lone tree, just a few yards in the distance. The bark incrusted planet was rather thick, and it stood alone in comparison o the others. But above all else, Airachnid noticed with a tiny whistling noise emerging from behind it. While unnoticeable to most, the Cybertronian chuckled at the sound.

For it, was the sound of something breathing.

Airachnid grinned, a subtle and sadistic smile forming on her face, "...come on, Jack. you have to be right..."

Lifting herself up, Airachnid silently used her legs to travel from tree to tree. Her shadow floated over the ground like a blackened cloud, waiting for the perfect moment to ruin someone's day. And the moment the femme reached the tree in question, Airachnid pulled her arm back and...

"-Here!"

Like the snake she was, Airachnid snapped her servo forward and ripped the tree trunk right out of the ground, crushing the solid piece of foliage between her claws without missing a beat. The tree's roots ripped like threads, torn from the earth like weeds. Even the branches fell to the ground in a crumbled mess, leaving Airachnid with a sadistic smile appearing as she revealed...

Nothing.

There was nothing, nothing at all. Where the tree had been there was nothing but a ruined piece of earth. No terrified humans of the like or anything living at all. There was nothing.

Such failure angered the femme, earning the busted tree a one-way flight across the forest. Even with the tree gone though, Airachnid continued to search. She tore up every piece of the forest she could get her servos on. From trees to bushes, Airachnid tore through everything till even the smallest bit of grass. The femme was at this for minutes even, her attention only finally being torn away when something snapped in the distance.

It sounded like a piece of wood, such as a branch or a twig being stepped on.

Airachnid instantly shot toward the sound, scampering off in pursuit. Her massive frame easily tore though the landscape, knocking down trees and the like as she moved. Airachnid even vanished from view eventually, leaving a very ruined portion of the forest in her wake.

And at the very center of it all, was the broken tree.

"...too...close."

Off to the side, just a few feet away from said tree, sat a log. It was a tiny thing, barely noticeable and even blended into the forest. That was also partly due to its age and the thick coat of moss that covered it. Which was quite surprising, especially given the raven haired teen who popped up from behind it.

Jack stood up and watched as Airachnid vanished into the distance, his eyes spinning a deep red, "Way too close..."

The teen could honestly say that his heart nearly stopped for a moment there. One misstep and Jack was certain that he would have been in pieces, torn to shreds while Airachnid gleefully laughed. He could even picture it, the sight of the femme wrapping her servos around his body, crushing his head so he couldn't spit fire at her once again...

But as close as that had come, Jack sighed in relief.

It might have been thanks to his eyes yet again, but Jack could honestly thank his eyes for saving his ass once more.

For within the span of less than a second, Jack had seen everything happen in a bit of slow motion. Airachnid popping out from the tree-line, her servos wrapping themselves out of the tree, and even the roots snapping! Everything had appeared as slow motion, even for a second or two. And with that spare time, Jack manged to hide himself behind one of the most unlikely things he had ever though would save his behind.

A freaken log.

Sure, Jack had accidentally smacked his head against said log the moment he hid behind it, but it still saved him.

Still watching the femme in the distance, Jack carefully lifted himself up and stood over the fallen log. As Airachnid moved farther and farther away, Jack's heart slowly began to calm down. No trophy case for this teen, and now he didn't even have to worry about running away from Airachnid anymore. Heck, Jack smiled while the spider scampered away...

...but, where was it going?

With his gaze never faltering, Jack suddenly felt his stomach drop as a devious realization took hold. He might be safe from the chopping block, even if it was for a short and fleeting moment, but he wasn't the only one Airachnid had been tormenting. She merely aimed at the boy because it would cause torment to his partner.

And if she couldn't find Jack anymore...then Airachnid would surely aim for-

"Arcee!"

Without wasting a second more, Jack snapped to his feet and made a mad dash in the same direction Airachniad had stormed off into. His feet was still burning and his chest felt as if it had been set ablaze, but Jack pushed himself forward, forcing his feet over the grass and the mud.

_'If Airachnid can't find me, she'll go back to Arcee!'_ Jack dreaded, pushing himself even farther in desperation.

Arcee's words rang through the boy's head. Airachnid wanted him, she wanted him to make Arcee suffer. She was meant to watch from her prison of web as Airachnid killed Jack. Now, even if he was safe, Arcee was likely still stuck. She was without her weapons or a real way to defend herself. And since Jack had up and vanished, Airachnid would likely return to vent her rage on Arcee!

"No way!" the teen sneered, his jaw clenching up, "Like I'm going to let that happen!"

Jack furiously picked up speed, a familiar warmth pushing into his legs. The very idea of something happening to Arcee filled the teen with rage, even if he didn't understand it. It was something, like the fire within his chest, burning up inside him. An urge to fight, to defend, to protect someone.

To prove himself...

* * *

_"Get this through you're thick head! You're not my partner; you're a liability!"_

* * *

...to show, that he wasn't nothing but a pest.

Arcee had lost so much to that Spider and now she was in danger herself. Danger that Jack had helped bring upon her. Airachnid was a threat to both of them and now she was heading back towards Arcee. To do god knows what to her. Even thinking about it made Jack angry.

The fear Arcee had been through, the emotions stained on her face-plate like a bloody wound. The sorrow, the pain, and the fear.

Such fear...he didn't want to see again.

"I'm not..." he sneered, hands tightening, nails piercing his skin.

* * *

_"You're...right, Jack. I am afraid. Of losing you!"_

* * *

"...going to let that **happen!**"

Eyes snapping open, Jack furiously growled, his eyes burning a furious rage. Along with that, Jack felt his entire body flooded with that warm feeling yet again. It was like his determination, pshing him forward with a drive he never knew of. Whatever it was, Jack could even feel it in his veins, acting like gas for his engine.

Amazingly, with such a push, Jack found himself catching up with Airachnid in no time flat. Hell, the boy even looked like he was jumping from tree TO tree at points! Like a blur, leaping through the forest like a force of nature, not a human. But within a few blinks of the eye, Airachnid was in clear sight again, maybe even shouting distance.

As he neared the spider however, Jack forced himself to stop. Catching up to Airachnid was one thing, but getting too close wasn't the smartest idea either.

Jack's inhuman speed dissolved into a light jog, the warmth leaving the boy's legs in the process. This reduced the limbs to burning chunks of worn muscle, barely ableing him to walk, let alone run. Luckily for Jack, running wasn't on the menu anyway. As while Jack slowly approached his target, the boy's jaw dropped when he realized where Airachnid had led him to.

"Here again...?" Jack whispered.

The chard ground, stumps blackened stumps, the shattered trees, and the massive craft sitting at the very center of it all?

Somehow, Airachnid and Jack had found themselves back at the crash site, where the femme's ship had first landed.

How, and why? Jack had no idea. The best thing he could guess was that all the running he did whilst trying to escape Airachnid had unknowingly resulted in a circle. One that had unknowingly led the pair back near where they had started. Where it all started actually, from the moment Arcee had entered that ship.

Briefly looking up from his hiding spot, Jack spotted Airachnid skulking around her own ship. Her sickly optics scanned the wreckage, glancing over every nook and carney. It looked as if she was looking for a irritating bug, wanting to smash it the moment she found it.

Still concealed behind his hiding spot, Jack almost felt the urge to snap his fingers when realization stuck him, "Must of thought I ran back here for cover..."

It made the most sense, especially given the spider's muttering. It was hard to heard given his distance, but the insane rambling of Airachnid wasn't all that hard to miss. She playfully taunted the teen, asking where he was or even if he was even there at all. The even felt his blood boil when a comment toward Arcee graced the spider's mouth. She was pulling no punches in her attempts at finding him.

After a minute or two of searching however, Airachnid let out a hiss. Clearly displeased with her lack of results, the spider turned her attention toward her own ship and began to head inside. Her skulking form swiftly leaped toward the massive ramp and headed inside, Jack's eyes just barely able to keep track of her as she vanished into the ship's inner-workings.

With her gone though, Jack leaned against the closest tree, his muscles finally loosening up after so long, "All right...now what?"

He had manged to find the Spider again and knew where she was but what else could the boy do? Jack had a deep feeling that he had to do something, anything to stop the sadistic spider. But other than shooting fire in her face, the teen didn't really have much that could even scratch Airachnid.

Reaching into his pocket, Jack chuckled at the familiar touch of his Swiss Army knife, "Don't think thats going to help..."

Letting his hand drop, Jack bit his lip. Thoughts, concerns, and anything of the sort swirled inside hiss head. There had to be something, anything he could do. Something to distract Airachnid, to keep her busy, maybe even disable her for a short time. The teen knew he couldn't just run away, not yet. His own body wouldn't let him, the urge to do something being too strong.

But what? Jack had nothing, nothing to distract the femme, and certainly nothing that could distract her long enough for him to check to see if Arcee was alright.

And one thing was for sure, watching the vessel wasn't going to make such options any easier to figure out.

"Damn it..." he cursed, glaring at the femme's ship.

The ship was dark, as black as its hull. The femme herself was gone, vanished inside the structure. From the ramp onward, all Jack could see was a dark nothingness. A void, as empty and dark as the Airachnid's own armor, and likely hid just as much darkness behind it as well.

Carefully crouching, Jack silently approached the ship. He made sure not to approach it at the front, instead opting to circle around it. His boots made barely a sound as he approached, the grass underneath his shoes having been long since dead. Certainly made it easy for Jack to near the vessel, despite his frantic heartbeat.

Jack let out a sigh and tried to keep himself calm. Instead of focusing on his nerves, the teen slide silently alongside the ship. The hull might have survived the entry into the atmosphere, but it wasn't tough enough to completely survive it. The surface was rough, like glass, fractured and sharp. It burned to touch it, even with the lightest of pressures.

Such a pain was a constant nuisance to Jack, undermining his attempts to keep himself quiet. Luckily though, a wet splash quickly caught Jack's attention, a moist sensation seeping into his shoe. The cause of such a thing was a strange puddle, one that nearly went up to the boy's ankle. Whatever it was, the liquid was a mix of blue, green, and some other colors that just didn't seem...normal.

The source of this eerie liquid was a mysterious substance oozing out of the ship. It was thick, far thicker than most liquid. Along with that, combine that and the color, the liquid was certainly not water.

In fact, the liquid glowed a bright blue, which reminded Jack of-

"Energon?!"

The strange, extraterrestrial material that had been hidden on Earth, the very key to Cybertronian life. The crystal-like material, the same material that the Autobots and Decepticons often fought over, a material that sustained their very existence. A powerful and often unstable fuel...and it was leaking out of Airachnid's ship.

An idea suddenly popped into Jack's head. It was crazy, insane, and likely to get him killed, but it was an idea.

Jack made certain that Airachnid was still inside her ship, using his eyes to peer as far into the structure as he could. Once certain though, Jack silently began to move, his eyes never left the ship as he silently stalked through the massive, burned up crater. The air was entirely tense, silent as the grave during the entire trek. Jack even felt himself constantly fighting the urge to flee the whole time.

One wrong move, and Airachnid could be upon him within a split second...

Such a silence lasted right up until Jack reached the Energon itself. The pool of fuel sat just a few feet away from the ship, collecting in a small hole in the ground. Jack could even spot the line itself, pooling out from a broken portion of the ship. A slight stream was all it was, leading directly back inside the marooned vessel.

"Alright..." Jack sighed, "Lets get this going!"

Standing up straight, Jack took a deep breath and glared over at the ship's entrance. The giant wall of shadows, entirely encompassing the ship's innards. It was like a dark void, something malevolent, sadistic, and evil. Just like the ship's owner, it felt sick...disgusting, and vile.

Just looking at it made shivers under his skin. It didn't deter Jack though. Instead, the teen quickly began to weave a familiar set of hand-signs, all while keeping his eyes dead set on the vessel's entrance.

Once nearly finished, Jack glared up at ship's ramp and let out a shout, "Hey! Airachnid!"

The sheer radius of Jack's shout echoed through the demolished field, passing through the treeline and into Airachnid's ship. Jack's voice echoed and bounced throughout the massive vessel, the boy's voice reaching even the deepest and darkest portions of the horrid construct.

Gazing upward, the sound of his own voice wasn't the only thing that could be heard. Along with it, the sound of metal upon metal also sounded. Like a bug crawling over a steel floor, Jack felt sweat drip down his back. Then, atop the horrid ship, Jack saw her.

Airachnid was perched, atop her own ship. Like a blackened shadow, she loomed over the burnt field and gazed across it. Eventually, her gaze fell on Jack and a sinister smile worked its way onto her face, a sadistic grin. The spider had recognized the boy's voice and had come running, right until her optics spotted him.

A horrid hiss escaped the femme, earning a shiver from Jack. But just as the spider made ready to leap at him, Jack took a deep breath.

"Bon'voyage!"

What happened next seemed to occur in slow motion for both parties.

Airachnid bent her legs, just about to jump towards her prey. Yet at the same time, flames once again poured from Jack's mouth. But instead of aiming at Airachnid, the flames made a beeline towards the pool of Energon. The target seemed strange for a moment, but the intent came clear the second the flames hit. For instead of merely being extinguished, the flames exploded the second they touched the Energon, spreading like a broken damn.

The Energon outside the ship was instantly overcome by fire, the flames spreading to each corner of the energy source.

Eventually though, the flames reached the Energon that was still pouring from the ship. It was a small leak admittedly, but the second those flames shot up the leak and into the ship?

The display that followed could be compared to what it would be like to throw a match into a gas tank, only on a significantly larger scale. The explosion was so massive that Airachnid couldn't even manage a yell in time. She was utterly consumed by the flames, disappearing into the infero like a piece of paper being charred into nonexistence.

The ship utterly blew apart. From within the ship, the entire frame utterly cracked and fell apart. It was like some fractured glass, the hull tearing itself apart like a busted balloon. Once this balloon popped though, the shockwave was more than powerful enough to send EVERYTHING flying. From pieces of the ship itself, the broken landscape, and even Jack too! Everything was sent spiraling backwards like a tornado just came through.

Airachnid was entirely engulfed in the blast, her form vanishing as fire took hold of everything in sight. Jack however, was both lucky and unlucky in his own experience.

For one, the teen was standing just barely within the safe zone of such an explosion. One or two more feet and Jack would have been utterly devastated by the explosion. Luckily, the most Jack had to deal with from the fire was a few burns and some damage to hist shirt.

But while Jack was fine from the fire, the explosion was a bit different. As with a thunderous explosion like this one, Jack was instantly sent flying backwards by the shockwave. It could shatter trees, rocks, and send even the most sturdy human flying. Thankfully, Jack survived...albeit barely.

Crashing spine-first into a tree had not been fun. It was quite the experience on the spine, thats for sure.

"Ugh..." the teen groaned, his body feeling as if it had been through a meat tenderizer, "Holy...ah, crap..."

His back hurt, his hands felt raw, and Jack could barely find the air to breath. And if that wasn't enough, the teen also found himself feeling tired as well, exhausted even. It was like the flames he had used actually burned up all of his energy, leaving the teen with only the smallest traces to work with.

"Really need to work on that..." he muttered, "Oh, this is going to hurt in the morning..."

Barely able to sit up, Jack glanced over at the burned wreckage of Airachnid's ship. The entire vessel was torn asunder, the previous shape of the ship no longer even recognizable. The ominous vessel was now simply a pile of scrap, burning chunks of metal and debris scattered amongst the crater.

After glancing at the wreckage for a good few seconds, Jack let out a sigh and hung his head back, "Well, that worked at least..."

A small sense of accomplishment flowed through Jack, almost making the boy forget about how beat up he felt. In fact, Jack almost had the urge to laugh at the burning pile, to warn it not to mess with him. It was a strange feeling and vanished quickly. There was no need for him to laugh at a burned up corpse.

Instead, Jack simply sat against the tree and sighed. A moment of relaxation seemed appropriate all things considered. Airachnid was taken care of, Arcee was safe, and Jack had done it all by himself...

"Just...five me a moment, " he asked no one in particular, "Catch my breath..."

The moment those words left Jack's mouth, a sudden creaking noise echoed at the crater's center. Even with the ship destroyed, several chunks of it littered the barren crater. From bits of the hull to ruined scraps of whatever the ship contained, all of it was in ruins. Like ash piled at a bonfire, with smoke billowing into the air.

In many ways, the ship was a corpse, burning to ash and sitting upon its grave.

Yet at the very center of the debris...something moved.

It began slow, a subtle twitch or two. Like burning wood, the metal slid down the debris like ash falling apart. But as he continue to watch, Jack froze.

At the very center of the destruction, something began to move. A figure emerged from beneath the pile of scrap, pushing the debris up and to the side. Jack's breath hitched at what happened next, a think blackened servo ripping itself up and out of the ruins of the ship. It was like a demon, rising from the pits of hell.

The monstrous, demonic looking femme rose from the shattered debris and hissed, one that could make snakes shiver in fright.

While unidentifiable at a distance, the figure's entire form was scorched, blackened by the first of the explosion. Bits and pieces of it were molten red, the intense flames having burned the armor to the melting point. But even with such damage, the figure stood tall over the wreckage, her purple optics glowing ominously within the inferno.

Airachnid had risen from the debris, charred but very alive with a snarl present on her faceplate.

At the sight of the ravaged femme, Jack tried to stand himself back on his feet. It was hard, proving strenuous on the boy's body due to his worn state. All the running and the shockwave had beaten Jack up quite a bit. Still, the teen tried his best to get to his feet, even with his breath growing more ravaged with every passing second.

Despite such explosion detonating just inches from her face, Airachnid snapped her optics in Jack's direction. She was still a hunter, and the sound of even the slightest gasps were like music to the femme's ears.

"You..." she sneered, the femme's claws tightening at the mere sight of Jack.

Airachnid unfolded her damaged legs from atop the ruins of her ship and stalked towards the beaten boy. Along with being a hunter, the spider was a fighter as well, a survivor. She would not let such injuries put her down. Not while she was so close.

"I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart..." Airachnid sneered, "Piece...by, piece..."

Jack clenched his teeth, still trying to stand. But as the femme neared the boy, still looming over him like a dark shadow, Jack's efforts were proven to be in vain. At most he could simply stand, let alone do anything to defend himself.

But as Airachnid loomed over Jack with her claws at the ready, a sudden noise echoed though the forest. It was loud, a low rumble, and sounded quite mechanical. But the sound itself was not unfamiliar to either parties. Both Jack and Airachnid had heard to noise before, and it brought a smile to Jack's face all the same.

"AIRACHNID!"

Like a blazing blue bullet, Arcee shot out from the ruined trees. Still in her alt. form, the femme leaped into the air and transformed, her servos reforming into her blasters at the same moment. Then, with a raged expression on her face, Arcee blasted Airachnid, sending the spider sailing backwards with a painful hiss.

Damaged and beaten, Airachnid glared at Arcee and bit back a curse. She was damaged, beaten, and vulnerable. So vulnerable that Airachnid was willing to do the one thing she saved for the most special of occasions.

As another blot struck home against her helm, Airachnid clenched her servos and launched herself into the air. Then with her multitude of legs forming around her, Airachnid dove straight toward the ground, spinning wildly. Combined with such momentum, Arcee watched in shock and anger as Airachnid disappeared, her form drilling into the ground at such a speed that not even her blasters could stop.

The Autobot continued to fire, blasting bolt after bolt at the Spider. But by the time Arcee reached her, it was too late. Airachnid had vanished into the Earth, leaving nothing but a massive hole in her wake.

Defeat rushed through Arcee yet again. She had been so close to finally ending it. Just a few more bolts and she was certain that Airachnid would have been done for. But now, she was gone yet again. Loose on Earth, going to Primus knows where-

"Arcee..."

Her rage at the spider slowly diminishing, Arcee deactivated her blasters and held her head. With the object of her rage vanished for the moment, the femme turned her attention to Jack, letting a sense of relief quickly overtake her.

"You alright?" Jack smiled, hopeful.

Arcee raised a brow at the teen, "Am I? I should be asking you that."

Chuckling, Jack waved his arms at his battered form, "I've been better...but hey, Survival kit, remember?"

Arcee smiled. She still had questions of course. Airachnid's ship was a burning mess and Jack wasn't too okay either. Both of those little facts were more than enough to warrant a few , Arcee was okay with pushing them off, even for a moment. She was just relieved, more than relieved actually. Jack and Arcee were safe.

After settling that though, Arcee glanced at the hole and sighed, "So much for closure."

Jack walked up to the femme, his pace reduced to a slight limp, "Well, her ship's just a bunch of scrap now, so I don't think she'll be leaving Earth anytime soon..."

"Which I'm not sure is a good thing."

Arcee said nothing. Jack had a point. Airachnid wasn't going anywhere, not now. So the chances of the duo meeting up again and finishing things was quite possible. Earth might have been quite large, but the universe always had ways of bringing people together again. And considering the bad blood between them, Arcee and Airachnid's rivalry wasn't going to end that easily.

Though in Jack's opinion, he hoped it wouldn't be so...hectic next time.

"Jack...I'm sorry you had to face my demons today." Arcee apologized, frowning at how close things had gotten. For a time, she had no idea how things were going with Jack. He could have died, ended up one of Airachnid's trophies. But with such thoughts, a smile also emerged, "You were pretty fearless out there, weren't you?"

Jack chuckled, waving off the praise, "Me? Oh no, I was...I was terrified."

"Mostly for you though."

There had been much running through Jack's mind during the entire experience. A rage towards Airachnid, a terrified expression plastered on his face, and maybe even a tiny bit of thrill. Some odd, others confusing, and one or two were even blood boiling. But by the end of it, only one thing had been running through Jack's mind.

Arcee smiled as she activated her communicator, "Arcee to base. Requesting a ground bridge."

Trying yet again to contact the base, Arcee let out a sigh of relief when Ratchet answered her call. Without the interference from Airachnid's ship, the connection between Arcee and the base was as clear as day. In fact, Arcee could swear that the connection was even greater now!

Didn't help with the mosquitoes though unfortunately.

"Need to get my partner away from any over-sized insects." she smirked, silently watching as Jack glanced up at her, his own smile also forming.

"Partner, eh?"

The femme chuckled and gently patted Jack on the shoulder, "Junior Partner. Still need to pull rank on you."

The duo shared a small bit of laughter, a feeling that was greatly welcomed. After so much worry, pain, anger, and even some tears, Arcee and her 'Junior' Partner were more than happy to laugh a bit.

Such laughter was what held the two over as they waited for the Ground Bridge. And after a few minutes of waiting, the sight of the vortex appearing was more than a sight for sore eyes for them both. The Ground Bridge was like a nice wake up call, to deliver the duo from quite the horrific nightmare. It was surely something both Jack and Arcee were more than ready to wake up from.

Arcee was the first to approach the portal, more than happy to put the entire situation behind them. Jack on the other hand, hesitated. As Arcee continued onward, Jack fumbled with his feet for a moment. Words spun around inside his head, unsure of how to make themselves real. Eventually though, Jack glanced up and called out to the femme.

"Arcee..."

The femme stopped and turned to Jack, confusion on her faceplate, "If you ever need to just...you know, talk? I'm always here for you, okay?"

Awkward delivery aside, Arcee smiled down at Jack, "I'll keep that in mind."

Jack returned the smile, the two partners sharing a brief moment of silence, of understanding. Once over though, both 'Partners' made their way through the Ground Bridge and left behind the ruins of Airachnid's ship. With it, they left behind quite a number of memories. Many that were painful and many that were best left forgotten. But with such memories gone, the two emerged from the hellish reunion with two souvenirs. The bond between the duo, now far greater than it had been mere hours ago.

And the other? It was something Jack wasn't even entirely aware of yet.

A power, rekindled by the rage he felt towards Airachnid. A righteous rage, one that hit the deepest parts of his soul. and while the flame had cooled for a time, Jack was now aware of it. He wanted to know more about it, something that could possibly help him and his friends.

But, such power was not acquired so easily.

Nor, did it come without a price.

* * *

_**AN:**_

_You know when a chapter goes on a lot longer than you meant it to? Well, this chapter is perhaps one of the biggest examples of that I've ever experienced! This thing is huge! Monstrous! And it was NOT meant to be at first! I swear! I was actually thought this one was going to be short! I mean it!_

_Still, sorry for how long this one took I did NOT mean for it to take so long. Just a lot of stuff got in the way. Personal, school, and just how long it went onward for!_

_But, I'm getting off topic. Sorry for how long this one took. Didn't mean to. Hopefully the next one won't take as long._

_That aside, I hope you all enjoyed this one. And if you have any concerns, PM me a question or include it in your review! See you guys next time._

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._


	5. Of Void and Flames

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, Viz Media, and Shonen Jump.  
Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro.

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._

* * *

_Chapter: Of Void and Flames.  
_

* * *

"Any strange muscle spasms? Locking up or contorted sensations?"

Deep within the Autobot's base, Jack sighed.

A hint of downtime had peacefully stuck the base. There was no blaring alarms or races to action. No Decepticon strikes or activities that required the attention of the bots. Heck, Agent Fowler hadn't even called once in the past few days. The entire base was just peaceful for once; an occurrence that was rarely encountered anymore.

Such peace made hanging out at the base nearly irresistible for the Autobot's human allies. With School over and none of their guardians off scouting or on a mission, Jack, Miko, and Raf began to enjoy the moment without being interrupted.

"No, nothing." Jack grumbled, trying not to yawn.

Or at least most of them were.

When often present in the bot's base, Jack and his friends normally occupied themselves by hanging out on a platform within the compound. The base itself had previously been a military installation. As such, it was filled with multiple platforms and levels, all that were ideal for humans to occupy themselves on. While still allowing the humans to interact with the bots without getting in their way, the platforms were perfect to keep the Autobots far away from a certain 'No Squishing' rule.

And given the size of most Cybertronians, it was a rule well avoided..

"No sudden fractures, broken bones, loss of ability to move and or function?"

Jack rolled his eyes, "No, no, and obviously not."

Though in one teen's opinion, he might of preferred getting crushed instead.

Unlike his friends, Jack had not the chance to enjoy such a peace. Miko and Raf sat off to the side, minding their own business. But Jack? He was busy entertaining the musings of one of the Autobots. The bot in question being the very same Autobot that had been bugging the boy ever since he and Arcee had returned from a fateful scouting mission just a few days prior.

Ratchet, the Autobot's chief medical officer and the team's unofficial second in command. He was a tall bot, around one of the three tallest of the team. With a white and red color-scheme, Ratchet often preferred a human ambulance as his alternate form, as fit his profession. A tough, no -nonsense Autobot, Ratchet is a gruff bot that did things without as much cheer as one would except.

In the mech's hands was a massive clipboard. Something he kept around just in case he needed it.

Thankfully, it was very easy to replace…just in case it was broken by accident.

"Really?" the medic question, not entirely trusting the boy's words, "No illnesses, queasy sensations, or otherwise?"

Jack rubbed his face, clearly irritated, "None. Nothing, I'm just a bit sore. That's all."

Ratchet raised a brow and scanned his clipboard. He searched through his list of symptoms, all of which were rather gruesome in some way or another. Blood poisoning, muscle decay, and even mental decay. Anything you would hate to have, was on that list. But to both of Ratchet's irritation and relief, none of the symptoms had appeared.

Jack seemed perfectly fine, despite all the options he had to be otherwise.

"Very well." The medic grumbled, lowering his clipboard, "And you remember my recommendation?"

Another sigh escaped from Jack, "Yes…"

Three days had passed since the dreaded scouting mission, the day Arcee came face to face with her vile enemy. Jack and Arcee escaped from the encounter with their lives, closer than they had been before. Airachnid had escaped however, now loose on Earth due to Jack destroying her ship. It had been a tiring, dreadful, and life threatening encounter between all parties. One that Arcee and Jack were glad to be free of.

Once the pair returned, Ratchet was almost instantly in their faces. With Arcee's explanation of what had happened, Ratchet immediately demanded a full check up on the duo. The medic fully remembered the hell Airachnid had put Arcee through the last time they met each other.

He was a grump about the whole thing but no one complained, especially after the day they had.

Arcee was cleared with nothing but a few scratches and a recommendation of some re-charge coming out of it. But with Jack's beaten appearance, the concern over the boy was a bit more warranted. Arcee was especially concerned, especially once she got a good look at him.

Beaten-up didn't even began to describe how Jack looked. His shirt was covered in soot and torn to high hell, having suffered through both Airachnid and facing a ship exploding in his face. Jack' himself wasn't in the best condition either. The teen had dirt, soot, cuts, and more bruises than he could count.

Hell, he even had soot IN his cuts as well. If anything, Jack was particularly lucky that his arms and face had taken the blunt of the damage.

Of course, Jack tried to wave off most of his condition as nothing but both Arcee and Ratchet instantly shot him down.

Surviving an encounter with an insane, vicious spider was no excuse for avoiding a check-up.

Thankfully, Ratchet's scans detected only a rather intense case of exhaustion at worse. His blood pressure, heart rate, and even his muscles all had been pushed far over their normal limits. By Ratchet's guess, if Jack had continued to push himself to the degrees he had, the boy might have collapsed due to exhaustion alone. And that was only the best case scenario.

The worse however, partially concerned the matter of Airachnid's ship exploding, which warranted most of Ratchet's concern. No records on hand detailed what could happen to a human once exposed to Energon, let alone experiencing a ship exploding due to the substance. So finding out that Jack nearly took an explosion of such properties to the face? Naturally, Ratchet was concerned.

Luckily, it hadn't come to that. To Ratchet's knowledge, the exhaustion had been the lengths of Jack's condition. The general consensus was that it was caused by the strainious running Jack had been forced through while facing Airachnid. But aside that and a few bruises, both Jack and Arcee were relieved when Ratchet concluded that nothing was truly wrong.

Just as long as he took it easy for the next day or two.

"So...can I...?" Jack nervously asked, pointing back over to the others.

Ratchet scoffed and waved her servo, "Yes, yes, go on. We're finished here."

Smiling, Jack pushed away from the railing and walked back towards his friends, "Thanks Ratchet!"

His work done, Ratchet grunted at Jack and stepped away. As the medic lumbered back over to his terminal, Jack hopped back over to his friends and sat next to Raf. The younger teen had been merely watching television in the meanwhile and smiled up at Jack upon his return.

"Hey." he greeted, "Everything going alright?"

Letting out a sigh, Jack nodded and leaned back onto the couch, "Yep, good to go."

"You sure?" Raf asked, "You looked like a mummy after Ratchet was done the first time."

Flinching, Jack sighed. While not nearly as bad as Raf's description, Ratchet had gone a bit overboard regarding Jack's injuries. It was a wonder why the medic even had so many bandages to begin with! By the end of it Jack had his arms almost completely covered in bandages while his face had quite a few band-aids as well.

It wasn't all that bad, at least compared to what could of been.

But upon returning home...

* * *

_Darby Residence, Three days ago:_

* * *

_"Jack! What happened!?"_

_It was late at night when Jack finally returned home. The events of the day still present in his mind, the boy and his partner slowly drove up the driveway of his home and pulled into the garage. With bandages still wrapped around his arms, Jack let out a sigh and dismounted Arcee. He then offered the femme a small goodnight and made his way towards the nearest door._

_After such a trying day, Jack wanted to do nothing but drop on his bed and fall asleep._

_Before he could find such relief though, the garage innermost door slammed open, revealing both a worried and frustrated June._

_Anger seemed to fuel the woman as she marched into the garage, likely aiming to chastise the boy due to his late return home. However, June's anger evaporated once her son's condition came into view. His bandaged arms and scuffed up face called for her attention far more than his tardiness had. So without delay, June quickly began going over the boy's bandages despite pleas for the opposite.  
_

_"Mo-Mom! Seriously, its fine!" Jack grumbled._

_"Shush!" June ordered, "Hold still."_

_With a twitch, Jack grumbled to himself and allowed June to do what she needed. She swiftly checked Jack's bandages, loosening them and re-tightening them before Jack could object.. None it hurt thanks to June's skills as a nurse, but what came next made Jack twitch all the same. For once she finished, June sent her son a look that anyone who lived in their home would know.  
_

_"Alright, it isn't bad..." she mused, "But spill, what happened?"_

_The teen averted his gaze, "It was nothing-"_

_"Jack, seriously." June pried, not letting the boy slip away so easily, "What happened? Did you get in an accident or something? Was it that motorcycle?"_

_Even without his eyes, Jack could have sworn he saw Arcee twitch at that statement, "No Mom, it wasn't an accident. I promise. It actually happened at school."_

_Crossing her arms, June raised a brow at her son, "School? This happened at school."_

_The sound of skepticism was heavy in June's voice, and why wouldn't it be? If something happened at school, then why hadn't she been notified? Her job at the hospital normally dragged at times but it didn't mean someone wouldn't contact her if something happened to her son. Hell, she would have been down there in a flash if something had happened._

_"Well...yeah." Jack shrugged, "Something happened in the lab today. Someone mess with something they shouldn't of, things happened, and the nurse patched me up. No biggie."_

_To explain his injuries, Jack had tried a few excuses. Blaming the local bully, something happening after school that was unrelated to Arcee, anything really. Some of them seemed reasonable, but to explain why he looked like a partial burn victim? Very few matched up. In the end, Jack simply used the one that seemed...less insane in comparison.  
_

_The High School did have a reputation regarding experiments and projects going horribly wrong...though, some of those had an outside, extraterrestrial reason behind them.  
_

_June frowned, seemingly considering it, "Alright..."_

_"But they better watch what they're doing." she muttered with a sneer, "If I hear about anything else, I may need to have a talk with your science teacher."  
_

_A nervous chuckle escaped Jack, "Of course..."_

_If pity was ever deserved, it was for the poor fool that manged to get a moment with June during one of her 'talks'. The amount of intimidation the woman could put into words was almost unreal. Though, that could have been just Jack's opinion, having been on the wrong end of such talks on more than one occasion. _

_Shifting gears, June smiled and walked back towards the house, "Good, now come on. Dinners ready."_

_"Wait, you made dinner?" Jack blinked._

_"Yep!" June smiled, a bit too cheerful for Jack's taste, "I whipped something up while I waiting. Now, come on. My treat."_

_After padding her son on the shoulder, June walked back into the house. Once gone, Jack let loose a sigh and shook his head. The boy sent Arcee a small glance and waved goodnight before following the woman inside. He might of escaped the clutches of an insane, murderous spider that day, but his mother's cooking? _

_Oh, were it so easy..._

* * *

_The Present:_

* * *

A shiver ran through Jack. No words could describe the concoction his mother had created.. The mere remembrance of how it tasted made the teen shudder in fright. He loved his mother dearly, that was a fact that would earn someone a punch in the face if called into question. But the matter of her being a good cook most of the time? Such was harder to answer, especially when she tried to be healthy.

Most of the time Jack wasn't even sure if that stuff was actually food, or could be qualified as such.

"Bleh..." he muttered, shaking his head, "So, anything interesting on?"

Raf shrugged and handed Jack the remote, "Nah, nothing really."

The Autobot's base was the home of giant transforming robots from a world far beyond Earth. They were aliens intertwined in a war that had gone on for centuries. A single Autobot could likely tell stories that could span days on end due to how long they lived. So when compared to that, television wasn't as entertaining.

"Well thats great," Jack muttered and set the remote aside, "What about you, Miko?"

Off to the side, Miko shrugged. The girl was casually strung across a nearby chair, doodling away on a sketchpad she had brought from home. Strangely enough, Miko hadn't done a thing other than doodle since she arrived at the base. Sitting, drawing, and nothing else.

Raf and Jack glanced at each other. Miko was the 'Energizer Bunny' of their little trio, always wanting to do something not matter how utterly dangerous it was. The fact that she wasn't freaking out due to being bored...was worrying.

Miko's antics aside, Jack and Raf silently turned their attention back to the television. Instead of focusing on the confusion, the pair tried to find something of interest on television. A odd movie, goofy television show, or even some old cartoon. Heck, the two considered playing a game too, anything would do really.

Off to the side, Ratchet ignored whatever the humans were doing and focused on his work. The many screens of data, scanners, various other pieces of valuable information occupied the medic's time. Of the various topics, possible locations of Energon placed itself at the top of Ratchet's to-do list for the moment. Earth was so large, even to the Cybertronians. And with the Decepticons also searching for the material, finding a location first was very important.

As he scanned nearby locations, a sudden beep caught the medic's attention. The sign of an Energon signal, finally having stumbled into the range of his scanners. Realizing this, Ratchet quickly got to work and set off to assure the exact location of such a source. But as he worked, Ratchet began to take notice of the signal itself.

Numerous oddities plagued the signal, stemming from being far too small an Energon vein to actually changing position every few seconds. The most alarming trait about the signal however was the exact properties it had, differing greatly from what Ratchet knew about Energon. In fact there was only one material that had similar characteristics...

"Optimus," he spoke, activating his communicator, "I've discovered something quite...grave."

The Prime entered the chamber a few moments later, quickly catching the attention of Raf and Jack. Their eyes followed Optimus as he walked through the chamber, the floor nearly trembling underneath his treads. Once present, Ratchet quickly pointed the Prime toward the signal in question.

"I had hoped that my growing expertise on the subject would remain purely academic, but though faint, this is clearly a Dark Energon signature." the medic described, "And whats worse. It's moving fast."

The 'Blood of Unicron'. Some of the most vile, revolting, sinister, corrupting, and fiendish substance in all the universe. The very touch of the material being capable of disturbing the nature of life and death itself. Dark Energon had become one of the most dangerous weapons in the Decepticon's arsenal, and whats worse, only one foolish Cybertronian was foolish enough to use it...

"Megatron." Optimus sneered.

A black spark, with a shard of Dark Energon at his core, Megatron seemed the most likely suspect for such a disturbance. The dark substance was vile to most Cybertronians with even the slimmest of sanities yet Dark Energon followed Megatron wherever he and his horde went. Like death, hounding after the horsemen himself.

"Where'd he find more of the bad stuff?" Arcee asked. She and the remaining Autobots followed in shortly after Optimus, each having heard the bad news.

Bulkhead huffed, "And whats he going to do with it? Recruit another army of the undead?"

Off to the side, Miko popped her head up excitingly, "Zombiecons?!"

Unaware of the delighted expression the girl had, Optimus looked grimly at such news, "We cannot rule out the possibility, especially since Megatron seems to be heading towards a familiar site."

Expressions widening, the bots and their human allies glanced at the console. The signal was constantly on the move, seemingly flying over anything that was in its way. The data displayed was that of an empty, rocky environment like a desert or outback-like area. Wherever it was, the location was far away from any trace of civilization and perhaps deep within the middle of nowhere.

As they watched though, the data displayed caught the attention of one of the bots. Bumblebee frantically pointed at the monitor, beeping nearly hysterically at where the signal was apparently headed. It was a place both he and Optimus knew quite well.

The burial place for a warrior that nearly took the both of them offline.

"Megatron has just barely awoken from stasis, and it seems he's already making up for lost time." the Prime announced, "Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet. Prepare to roll out!"

Nodding, both Bulkhead and Bee made their way over toward the Ground Bridge tunnel. Back with Ratchet though, the medic blinked and sent the Prime a confused look, "Me?"

"If we are truly dealing with Dark Energon, then we may require you expertise." Optimus explained, detailing the reason for the medic's inclusion.

Once finished, the Prime turned to the only remaining Autobot, "Arcee?"

The femme smirked, "Bridge Operator? Got it."

Their roles and objectives now established, the Autobots quickly moved into position. The away-team all piled up near the massive tunnel made just for the Ground Bridge while Arcee manned the controls. As things prepared to get underway, the three teens watched the bots with worried expressions. Or at least, two of them did.

"Go get'em Bulk. Bring the hurt!" Miko called out, still doodling on her sketchpad. She sounded rather calm, without the normal excitement that came with an action packed mission. Even so, Bulkhead pounded fists together like two massive hammers, the mech more than ready to kick enough aft for both of them.

Back with the children however, Jack and Raf stared at their friend, neither buying her uninterested act.

"Not wanting to go? Thats not like Miko." Jack muttered, earning a nod from Raf.

"Shes definitely up to _something_..."

With a flick of a leaver, the Ground Bridge sprang to life. Arcee manned the controls while the others stood just feet in front of the massive vortex. Then with a quick transformation, Optimus and his team rolled on out. The four vehicles drove through the massive vortex and disappeared, surely reappearing at their destination.

As the bots vanished, Miko smirked.

With a small glance over her shoulder, Miko shot to her feet and made her move. She tossed her sketchpad aside and made a dash towards the stairs, aiming to make a beeline straight towards the Bridge itself.

Sudden as she was though, Miko did not escape unseen. Arcee might have been busy with the Ground Bridge's controls (making sure it didn't collapse on her team), Jack and Raf were not so easily fooled.

"Making a break!" Jack snapped.

Shooting to their feet, Jack and Raf instantly shot after their friend. The former nearly tripped over a box as they ran, the two teens quickly running down the stairs and after the girl in question. Thankfully, Jack manged to snag Miko by the arm right before she made it to the bridge, though barely. Raf eventually caught up, arriving just as Miko struggled to escape.

"Its too dangerous!" Jack growled, holding Miko rather tightly.

Not tightly enough however. Even with having caught the girl, Miko ripped her arm free and finally shot down the portal. Jack and Raf sighed and quickly followed. With one leading the charge, the three children quickly made it through the bridge without issue, Arcee having unnoticed them due to having been focusing on the controls.

However, due to their concern, neither Jack nor Raf noticed the small device that fell from Miko the moment she made her escape

A small pink phone, sitting just feet away from the Bridge itself.

* * *

_-Desert-_

* * *

Deep within the barren wastes of the landscape, a large Ground Bridge swirled to life. It appeared between a small canyon, nearly taking up all the space between the massive stone walls. The canyon itself seemed similar to a massive hallway, going on four countless miles in either direction.

The Autobots emerged from the Bridge seconds later, transforming before stepping out into the familiar landscape once again.

As the Cybertronians continued forward however, none noticed the three small figures following in their footsteps. The three kids silently emerged from the Ground Bridge and followed after the bots, Miko leading the charge while Raf and Jack quickly ran after her.

Thinking fast and with a smirk on her face, Miko quickly ran forward and scaled a pile of boulders. Such a height easily allowed for a great angle, putting the girl up and out of the way while still giving her more than enough room the watch the carnage to come.

"Come on!" she cheered, "Lets see some fight of the livin dead already!"

Of course, the act of stopping to watch also gave Jack and Raf plenty of time to catch up. Once they did, Jack quickly grabbed Miko by the arm and nearly pulled her off her feet. The girl let loose a yelp and glared at Jack but the boy easily matched it. All the while, Raf finally caught up with the duo and sat down to the side.

"Miko, what were you thinking!?" Jack demanded.

Raf frowned, "She wasn't."

With a quick yank of her arm, Miko ripped herself free from Jack and sent him a glare "Hey! I totally missed out last time! This can be my only chance to take some snaps!"

Her intentions clear as day, Miko reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone. While Jack and Raf watched though, Miko blinked and began searching the rest of her pockets. From her pants to even the toy clipped to her belt, the girl sat up and glanced back towards the Ground Bridge once she exhausted every place her phone could of been.

"I must of dropped it back at base!" she whined.

Jack rolled his eyes while Raf hung his head, "Figures."

Hopes crushed, Miko tensed up and sent Jack the mother of all glares. She stood straight up and marched right over to the boy, who stood up just in time. Raf got to his feet as well, preparing himself for what was about to happen.

Unbeknownst to the three teens though, the Autobots continued their mission despite their own grievances. Instead of standing around, the bots deployed their weapons and strolled forward just the moment they emerged from the Ground Bridge. Each were on guard, more then aware of what could be waiting for them due to the factors involved.

As the bots entered a nearby clearing though, the group came face to face with the source of the signal...

"Thats not Megatron..."

One they weren't expecting.

Far across the clearing stood a tall mech with a frame nearly entirely grey in color. Heel-like treads dug into the ground, attached to the mech's frame via a set of thing legs. Missiles were attached to the equally thin arms while a pair of wings spread out from the back of the looming Decepticon. As his talons crackled though, the bots took note of the Con's many wounds. From scratches to dings, the Decepticon looked ready to fall apart at any moment.

The beaten and worn-out mech stood just a few feet in front of a mass of boulders, laughing hysterically as a bright purple glow shined through the cracks in the pile.

Be that as it may though, Optimus' battle mask instantly slammed into position, "Starscream!"

The Prime's booming voice instantly snapped the flyer out of his laughter, the insane chuckling quickly replaced by a frightened gasp, "Autobots!"

Blasters activated as the Seeker turned to face the new arrivals. Starscream lifted one of his battered arms and pointed it at the bots. Optimus did the same, resulting in a sort of 'staredown' between the two forces. The four Autobots on one side while Starscream was alone on his own (aside from a glowing mound of dirt just a few feet behind him).

"Stand down."

Scowling, Starscream sneered at the Prime, "You stand down!"

With the Dark Energon making him even crazier than normal, Starscream attacked the Autobots. He fired one of his missiles, sending it on a direct course with the bots. It crashed into the space between the four mechs and exploded magnificently in a wave of fire and metal. As the missile detonated though, Optimus and his Autobots quickly took action.

They leaped out of the missile's path and hid behind a few nearby boulders, which protected themselves from the missile's range.

Once the bots were out of sight though, Starscream cackled like a madman. His optics even turning purple as he laughed, "Fools! Nothing can harm me while Dark Energon flows through my veins!-"

It happened in an instant. The moment Starscream finished talking, Optimus snapped up from his cover and fired. A blue bolt was discharged from the Prime's weapon and traveled through the air within seconds, almost like a flash of light. But despite its speed, the bolt easily hit its mark.

Starscream didn't know what happened at first. One second he was gloating at his obvious supremacy and the the next?

His arm exploded, reduced to a stump while everything from his elbow downwards flew countless feet behind him. The limb crashed into the ground, leaving Starscream with one less arm, weapon, and method of defending himself.

For a second or two, Starscream stared at his limb with wide optics. Eventually though, the clear lack of feeling in his arm (or lack there of) snapped the Decepticon back into reality. And once that happened, the Screamer was off. He turned on his heel and ran, eventually hiding himself behind a nearby boulder.

As one mech hid himself though, another four emerged from a very similar position.

Optimus and the others stepped out from their cover and watched as Starscream made himself scarce.

"You clipped his wings. Hes grounded." Bulkhead noted, readying his blaster.

Optimus nodded. Even though it was just his arm, such a critical part of a Cybertronian was needed for a Seeker to fly. And without it?

He as about as fly capable as a brick.

That in mind, Optimus and the other Autobots emerged from their cover and approached the beaten Decepticon. Footsteps slowly crossed the clearing as the bots moved, each ready to fire if necessary. The Prime took point while Ratchet covered the rear, ready in case anything happened.

"Agh! I can't BELIEVE you made me drop my phone!"

"W-wait! Hold on, how is this MY fault!?"

Anything, except for that.

Ratchet, Optimus, and the others turned around at such a noise, their blasters ready. What they saw however, made the bots stop and stare. It was the children, standing just a small distance away, back near where they had arrived. They stood atop a nearby pile of boulders, utterly unaware of what was happening. Instead, Miko was busy screaming at Jack, requiring the boy to defend himself while Raf watched.

"Oh No..." Bulkhead muttered, almost cursing the universe for such bad timing.

The Universe wasn't done yet however. Less than a few seconds after discovering the children themselves, Optimus was contacted by Arcee,_ "Base to Optimus! The Kids are missing!"_

Prime frowned, "We have a visual. Send a Ground Bridge immediately!"

Even though Starscream was beaten and broken in his current state, the Prime was NOT going to risk the children's life. When Dark Energon was involved, even while in the hands of someone like Starscream, there was no chances the Prime was willing to take when it concerned the lives of their comrades.

A small confirmation quickly followed, as did another Ground Bridge.

The portal sprang to life just left of the teens, forming on the side of the canyon's wall. But before either of the bots could call out to the children to catch their attention, something odd occurred.

Another, second Ground Bridge appeared. Like a mirror, the Ground Bridge appeared like a reserved reflection, appearing on the same wall yet on the opposite side of the canyon. The shock of such an occurrence grabbed nearly everyone's attention, including the children. Seeing two Ground Bridges at the same time was not something commonly witnessed.

Ratchet, despite his shock, quickly called out to the children, "You three! Into our Ground Bridge! Now!"

Haste evident in his tone, Jack and Raf wasted no time in following the medic's command. After grabbing Miko, for which the girl groaned for, the tree teens swiftly descended from the stoney pile and made a dash towards the Ground Bridge. Unbeknownst to them however, a certain Seeker did the same for his Ground Bridge.

And he made it through first.

Jack, Miko and Raf didn't notice, as neither did the bots. The teens simply continued onward and ran through the nearest Bridge. As the three entered it however, something...strange began to occur. The swirling vortex began to shift and contort, twisting in unnatural ways. The energy bent and pushed, the very Bridge itself leaning to the right.

While still inside it, Jack, Raf, and Miko's pace slowed to a crawl. The Bridge around them began to shift and contort, unraveling to a unnatural degree. It was like an Earthquake, shaking the entire portal wildly. But the worst part? The part that actually made the teens stop in their track?

The other end of the Ground Bridge? It vanished, like the door had been closed on them. The portal between the canyon and the base now resembled an empty hallway, with only one exit remaining. The one behind them.

"That...doesn't seem right." Raf whimpered.

Jack gently gripped the boy's shoulder and pushed him back, "Come on, somethings up..."

Miko sent Jack a look, "Yah think!?"

Rolling his eyes, Jack silently began leading the three back towards where they had entered. Before they could even come close to reaching it though, something happened.

Everything that had been happening to the portal prior? Everything grew worse. The ground shook and rocked, cracks appearing throughout the portal's interior. Jack and the others felt a powerful trembling underneath them, like the portal had lost it's supports. The walls contorted, continuously pushing out from the side. Like a paper-bag, the very sides of the Ground Bridge began to thin, like a paper-bag being poked full of holes with a sharp knife.

Jack, Raf, and Miko ran even faster. The entrance to the bridge sat just a few yards ahead of them, almost in spitting distance. With a final push, the trio just nearly reached the entrance when-

An explosion tore through the air. Wind rushed in from the entrance and knocked the three even further into the portal. The very Bridge itself contorted, pushed over its limit by the sudden force. Chaos followed. The floor collapsed, ceiling cracked, and energy flared in nearly every direction. Everything turned unstable, inside and out.

What followed blinded everyone. A thunderous crack and a ear piecing explosion, both ripping through the area like an atomic bomb. Everyone was knocked off their feet by the shockwave alone. The teens and the bots both fell backwards and crashed into the ground.

With heads and helms smacking against the ground, darkness claimed them all.

A cold, empty darkness.

* * *

_-Unknown-_

* * *

_"Stop him!"_

_"Take him out!"_

_"Attack at once! He can't-"_

_A raven haired boy shot forward, a sword in his hand. He snapped toward the closet target and sliced down. The man's own sword shattered as the weapons struck, one cutting through the other. A bloody gurgle was all the man could say as the boy cut him down, slicing a grizzly cut down his chest._

_Two more enemies leaped from the side, both with swords lifted high in the air. They quickly brought their blades down, aiming for the boy's head. He ducked, the tips of the swords grazing his hair instead of his scalp. Both men growled and then howled. The boy grabbed the broken end of the first man's sword. He used it as a knife, stabbing one of his foes in the leg while punching his partner in the chest. _

_Both men staggered back. The boy shot into the air and cut one of them down. A man fell, a loss of an arm and part of his face. The other man fell backwards and pulled out a Kunai. He threw it, aiming at the boy's head. It missed, instead falling between his target's teeth._

_A new weapon in hand, the boy fell right on top of the third man. Using his shoulders as stepping stones, the boy stabbed into his foe. His sword drove through the man's collar and into his chest, impaling his heart. He then took the Kunai and tossed it to the side. _

_A scream followed, as well as a few curses._

_Standing up, the boy looked around. The landscape was filled with dead, from both sides of the conflict. Many wearing armor and blue clothes, neither were spared the grace of death. Yet still, more men approached. Some holding weapons, some weaving hand-signs, and some already launching attacks. _

_An explosion of wind thundered behind the boy, tearing the landscape up even further.. He narrowed his eyes at the approaching men and sheathed this sword. The men grew closer as the bow began tow eave hand-signs on his own. They flashed past even the keenest of warriors in just a few seconds. Once finished, the boy took a deep breath._

_"Fire Style..."_

_"...Great Fire Destruction!"_

* * *

"Ah!"

With a sudden yelp, Jack shot upward and awoken from his dream.

That was instantly proven to be a bad idea. Before he could even groan, Jack felt his head do somersaults like he had been thrown through a washing machine. Everything was blurry, and whats worse? He didn't even have a chance to question it.

Things were just...everywhere, all at once.

"Ow..." Jack groaned.

What...what happened?

Opening his eyes, Jack was quickly assaulted by a painful headache. In fact, everything hurt. The ground beneath him was hard, not comfortable in the slightest. The teen could practically feel his body ache due to laying on it. Such a place was not the best place to take a nap.

Rolling himself on his side, Jack stood up and glanced around. The canyon was still their destination, the Ground Bridge apparently having spat them back out before collapsing. To the boy's side was his friends as well, each waking up in a similar manner as he was.

"You guys okay...?" Jack asked, sitting up.

Raf adjusted his glasses and nodded, "Yeah, I think so..."

Nodding, Jack and the others slowly got to their feet. They weren't to only ones either. Just a few feet away, the Autobots stumbled and groaned, each having suffered through the strange happenings as the children had. Of the bots though, Bulkhead was the first to awaken, and to a mighty big headache too.

"Ugh, what happened?"

Ratchet let out a groan, "I can't be certain..."

"But if two Ground Bridges sent to the same coordinates, the feedback could have triggered a system overload."

Miko looked up at the Medic and waved her arms, "Could?! HELLO! It totally did!"

If causing the entire Ground Bridge to implode on itself, knock the kids back through the entrance, and then nearly knock everyone out didn't clarify as an overload, then nothing did! Heck, they were lucky that the two portals didn't pull a 'Ghost Busters' due to the crossed steams and ended the world!

Strangely, Ratchet didn't acknowledge Miko's statement. Hell, he didn't even look at her. No angry look or anything. In fact, none of the bots did. Each of them even Optimus merely ignored the girl. And while that would have been a major achievement in their day and age, it was a bit confusing at the moment

Especially given Bulkhead's next words, "But the kids made it though, didn't they?"

The children blinked, "Huh?"

"Whats he talking about?" Jack asked, not entirely sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Miko however, did. The girl hated to be ignored, especially when people were acting as if she didn't even exist. So instead of standing around as if she really DIDN'T exist, Miko marched over to her guardian and yelled about as loud as she could mange, "Bulkhead?! Hello! We're right here!"

No matter how much Miko yelled at the bots, none of them reacted. Not even a twitch. It was even more than simply not hearing them. Optimus himself didn't even bat the children a glance, and he wasn't the type to ignore anything if given the opportunity. But instead of that they were there, Optimus reactivated his coms. and contacted the base, "Arcee, did the children make it safely back to base?"

_"Negative," Arcee replied, "You don't see them!?"_

Ratchet frowned, "No sign."

The utter ignorance of the three children earned a shocked expression from each of them. For some reason or another, the Bots were seemingly ignoring them or just frankly didn't know that they were there for some reason. Regardless of which though, such words proved to be the last straw in Miko's mind. The girl huffed and walked awfully close to her guardian, standing just a few feet away from the Wrecker's foot.

"What?! 'No sign'? Okay, seriously Bulk-"

Before Miko could even finish that sentence, something beyond words happened.

Bulkhead, out of ignorance or just unsuspecting coincidence, took a step forward. His massive foot lifted itself in the air and moved in Miko's direction. The girl herself quickly realized the danger she was in and covered her face. But instead of slamming into Miko and knocking her down, Jack, Raf, and Miko herself stood and watched as something...different happened.

"Whoa-!"

It went through her. The limb, passed through her like nothing.

Bulkhead's massive foot actually when right through Miko, as if it could actually ignore her presence both literally and figuratively. There was no collision, no painful impact, and there wasn't even a reaction on the Wreckers' end. It was like one of the two just wasn't there in the slightest.

Miko stumbled back, unable to process what had happened. Her entire body felt chilled, as if someone had stepped on her grave. It felt unnatural and nearly made Miko loose her sense of balance for a few seconds. Thankfully, Jack and Raf caught her before she face-planted, though it wasn't comfort enough for what they just witnessed.

"He went right through out..." Jack muttered in shock, "Does that mean we're...?"

Raf whimpered and clutched Jack's leg, "I don't wanna be a ghost!"

Dead. Without the feeling of being able to touch or communicate, being a ghost seemed like the most reasonable explanation in existence. Such was a spirit of the dead, capable of numerous things aside from touching. But all that depended on one thing, being actually dead. A fact that none of the children wanted to be true.

What Jack quickly realized though, was that he was holding Miko. Actually, physically holding her up.

"Wait," the teen pointed put, "How can we still touch each other?"

If the teens were truly ghosts, then why were they still able to feel each other? Hell, why could they feel the ground too? Wouldn't ghosts merely float or go through any solid matter? One could assume that ghosts would simply float on through nearly everything. And yet, the children could touch each other without issue.

Miko and Raf released Jack and looked down at themselves. So much confusion was making the duo's heads hurt.

Though, the act of thinking didn't last long. As before the teens could realize what was going on, the three quickly took notice of the Autobots. The mechs had began to walk over to where Starscream had been, likely to take into account anything they could use. As they ran though, Jack, Miko, and Raf quickly followed as fast as they could.

Such silence quickly gripped the area, making the lack of colors seem all the more lifeless in comparison.

"Ratchet," Optimus spoke up, musing on an idea as they walked, "Could it be possible for the children to have been transported to the Nemesis instead?"

The medic shook his helm, "Not likely. If Starscream didn't arrive at our base, then the most likely explanation would be a dislocation. The children might have simply been bridged to an unintended destination."

Still trailing behind the mechs, the three teens stopped with wide eyes. They couldn't believe Ratchet's explanation. It didn't seem possible. How could the teens have been sent somewhere else, if they were still there? If anything, the only thing that had changed was the fact that no one could see, hear, or feel them anymore!

"Another place...and yet the same place?"

Blinking, Jack and Miko sent their shorter friend a confused look, "Wha-what do you mean?"

Concentration eclipsing his expression, Raf tried to explain his idea as best he could, "If Ratchet's right, then maybe we did get bridged somewhere else. But instead of being sent someone else on Earth, maybe we were sent into a...sorta, different dimension?"

"An...alternate reality, some sort of 'Shadow Zone', where we're still here and yet, not at the same time."

Jack, for a moment, was speechless. Miko on the other hand...

"Nerd Alert."

Back with the bots, the four mechs silently approached the same mound Starscream had been laughing over just moments before everything had gone to hell. Before, it had been a large pile of rocks and boulders, easily large enough to contain a Cybertronian. But now? After all the insanity that had plagued the short mission?

"Look," Optimus gravelly noted, "Skyquake's tomb is empty."

The mound was now nothing more than a giant hole, containing neither rocks nor a deceased Cybertronian.

Bulkhead gawked at the newly emptied grave, his processor spinning in confusion, "How in the heck did we miss Skyquake rising and shining!?"

Skyquake was a massive Decepticon, easily towering over most Vehicons. He was even nearly the same size as Optimus. With such bulk and intimidating presence, which would only be increased by his resurrection as an undead, the idea that he could rise up and escape his tomb while remaining unnoticed just didn't seem possible. And yet, it had happened.

"It seems Starscream got what he came for." Ratchet grumbled.

Optimus nodded. Starscream now had a powerful weapon at his disposal, and there was no telling when he might try to bring more fallen warriors back from the grave. But be that as it may, there were more important dealings to focus on than the Seeker's quest for power.

"Another matter for another time." he decided, "Right now, our priority is locating Jack, Miko, and Rafael."

Finding Starscream would be a matter for another day. If anything, he still had to deal with Megatron if the warlord discovered the Seeker's activities. Given how busted up he already was, some of the bots might even pity the Con if that happens. But in the meanwhile, they had a few children to find.

"Arcee, bridge us back to base."

In the background, the very same children silently watched as the bots prepared to depart. They had little idea what to do. If anything, they were prepared to follow the team back to base. At least there, they might find away to contact the bots or something.

"Maybe we can find something to draw on, write something on the ground that they could see?"

It wasn't the best plan (as Miko liked to point out) but it was the best one they had.

So while the bots called for their Bridge, the three teens waited patiently for the portal to appear. But while they watched, a large shadow suddenly loomed over the trio.

A massive arm creeped over a nearby boulder and clutched it, both crushing the stone and gaining the attention of the three. Sharp claws tore into the stoney surface, ripping and tearing it like it was paper. The sound it made was also like rusted knives on a chalk board, causing a terrible sound that echoed through the entire canyon.

The children covered their ears at such a noise and silently cursed the cause of it. Of the three though, Jack was the first to turn around and actually see the cause of their pain. Yet upon seeing it, Jack took a step back and froze.

"What the heck was-" he muttered, "Oh no..."

Curiosity followed suit with Raf and Miko unknowingly mimicking Jack's actions. Soon enough, all three children were staring up at the looming figure, their mouths wide with shock.

Towering over them, the massive creature was covered in black, rusted armor. Its arms, legs, and entire frame was beaten hell and back with numerous cuts, scratches, and damages covering its body. The creature's movement was slow, almost as if it was dragging itself along. But even such a slow rate of movement couldn't take away from just how massive the creature was, looming over the kids as if it was as tall as Optimus itself.

Claws as sharp as knives, wings tattered and broken, and eyes filled with nothing but a lifeless purple glow, the undead beast that had one been Skyquake had risen from the grave, active once more.

The massive, metal corpse pushed its way past the teens, its shadow briefly looming over them. Watching, the trio silently observed as the undead Decepticon pushed itself across the clearing, walking straight towards the Autobots. Optimus and the others stood painfully unaware however. A Ground Bridge had swirled to life in front of them, making more than enough noise to drown out the thunderous footsteps.

"ZOMBIE!"

Screams filled the air. Each of the teens screamed at the bots, trying to catch their attention. Warnings, frightened yells to move, everything they could come up with was thrown into the air. And yet despite their screams, the bots didn't hear them. They couldn't, not in their present state.

Skyquake continued to stalk towards the bots, even as they entered the Ground Bridge. His undead optics quickly found his first target, Bulkhead being the farthest back of the group, and the slowest.

With talons sharp enough to rip though even the thickest of armors, Skyquake lifted its undead apendage and prepared to tear through the back of the Wrecker's frame. Miko screamed, one last time, desperate to save the Wrecker. Yet still, her voice went unheard...

Within the flash of a second, the Undead stuck, flailing its massive arm and swinging it right at Bulkhead's back...

For which, it passed right through.

_Literally._

"Huh?"

There was no connection, no meeting of talons and steel. Like the kids had earlier, Skyquake's limb passed right on through Bulkhead without a hint of resistance. Noting occurred, not even the slightest of scratches or the dullest of sparks. Undead or not, Skyquake passed right on through, as if he hadn't even been there.

Skyquake, despite his undead state, stared confusingly at his limb while the bots departed, leaving the children to process what they had witnessed.

Miko was the first to realize what had occurred. And when she did, laughter sprang forth from the girl, "Alright! It can't touch them either!

A horrid groan escaped from the massive undead. It's prey were gone, escaped with the closing of the Ground Bridge. The massive pile of broken metal shifted in place, thunderous vibrations echoing through the vacant clearing. Like the corpse that he was, Skyquake's massive legs began dragging itself across the clearing once more.

His new destination though, just so happened to be in the very same direction as the children were.

"Oh, scrap." Jack muttered, "If that thing can't touch the bots..."

Miko winced, "Just like we can't...and we can touch each other..."

"Then I guess he can touch us!"

Horror quickly gripped the three children. The massive, dark corpse of a Con loomed over them with its shadow growing ever bigger as it approached. The ground practically shook with every step it took. No anger or violent thoughts were present on the Corpse's face. There were no thoughts at all in fact. Just instinct, the need to destroy.

Like a wild animal, Skyquake continued to approach the three, resulting in the only reasonable thing a teen could think of doing.

They ran.

Raf, Jack, and Miko all booked it, running as fast as they could away from the undead Decepitcon. They ran passed the pile of rocks they had been standing on previously and even ran past the very place they had arrived at. Running was the only thing the three could concern themselves with at the moment. That, and the ever present footsteps of their purser.

Skyquake never gave up. He likely didn't even know how to. The corpse merely continued to stomp after the children, its massive frame easily allowing it to keep pace despite its lack of thought.

The teens continued to run, turning a corner as the canyon shifted from the clearing into a much more narrowed passage. Walls were much closer now and places to run became limited. The only option the three had was to keep running, hoping to outpace the massive undead.

As they ran though, Raf struggled to keep up. The boy was short, much shorter than his friends, With such short limbs, running wasn't the easiest of tasks for the boy.

Such circumstances eventually stuck hard when Raf tripped over his own feet. The boy fell face first into the ground, his glasses sliding a short distance away. Hearing the boy fall, Miko and Jack stopped and turned to see what had happened. In the distance, the duo saw both Raf on the ground, and Skyquake following not that far behind.

Without a moment to lose, Jack quickly shot back down the path and to his friend. Grabbing Raf by the arms, Jack helped the boy to his feet and ran pulled him along. Eventually, the trio manged to find a small place to rest, hiding behind a small turn the path took just a few yards ahead.

Once there though, Raf pointed out something that had been forgotten, "Jack! My Glasses!"

Jack glanced down at Raf and let out a curse. Standing up, the teen glanced around the corner and briefly scanned the path. The very frames themselves still sat in the middle of the path. Unfortunately, such a path also had a undead Decepticon currently taking a stroll down it.

"Way too dangerous." Jack decided, not willing to risk it.

A lumbering, undead beast was growing closer every second. Making a run for something Raf could easily get a replacement for did not seem worth it.

"B-but, I can't see without them!" the boy pointed out.

Off to the side, Miko scoffed at Raf's insistence, "What are you, Ninety?"

"Not helping!"

Miko scowled, "Fine!"

Before Jack or Raf could stop her, Miko was off. The girl went running, dashing around the corner and made her way over to Raf's glasses. They weren't too far away thankfully but neither was Skyquake. By the time Miko even snatched the glasses, the looming Terracon was practically upon her. It's massive foot rose high into the air, about to crush the girl beneath its massive weight.

Just as the foot crashed into the ground however, Miko rolled to the side, just barely avoiding becoming quite the pancake.

With or without the girl beneath it, Skyquake's appendage fell forward all the same. The colossal foot slammed into the ground with tremendous force, cracking and distorting the very rock underneath it. A thunderous quake rumbled through the area, shaking everything from the ground to the walls, and even the earth between Jack and Raf's feet.

But such a destructive force still manged to miss one little girl.

"HOO-YA!" Miko cheered, her blood nearly boiling at the excitement.

Momentum burning bright, Miko shot to her feet and ran. The girl's feet nearly instantly took her ahead of the rusted up corpse, its massive frame slow and cumbersome. In fact, Miko ran underneath yet another near crushing as she escaped, chuckling to herself as she left Skyquake in the dust.

After safely getting some distance between herself and the massive undead however, bad luck struck once again. A small crack in the ground, caused by Skyquake's thunderous footsteps caught Miko by one of her feet. With her foot wedged in the crack, Miko fell forward.

Right onto her face.

"Ow..."

Sitting up, Miko rubbed her bruised temple and glared down at her foot. It was caught in a tiny hole, barely big enough for her fist to fit into. Miko scowled at the hole and barely bit back the urge to yell at it for tripping her up. Instead, her time quickly went to removing her foot from such an obstacle.

But as she tried, Miko froze when a large shadow loomed over her, eclipsing any light that had been there.

Miko gulped and glanced upward, "Scrap..."

Even with the small distance she had manged to gain between her and the Con, Miko flinched as she saw Skyquake stumble just over her. The Decepticon's massive feet caused mini earthquakes with every step. Such vibrations caused vibrations through everything, including Miko herself.

"Miko!" Raf cried in the distance, "Get out of there!"

"MOVE! NOW!"

Echoes of the screams sounded throughout the canyon. Yet even with her ears burning from the sound of them, Miko couldn't move. Her body froze up, unwilling to even twitch. The girl was trapped, unable to escape as Skyquake's corpse loomed over her.

Letting out a shriek, Miko clenched her eyes shut and covered her eyes.

For a moment, darkness consumed Miko's line of sight. Her heart beating like a set of drums, waiting for the end to come. Yet as her ears were filled with the rhythmic beating of her most vital organ, something else cracked through the air. Not the painful end of her life via the Terrorcon's foot, but the loud crackle of an explosion instead.

With a yelp, Miko snapped upward and opened her eye.

"Whoa..."

An explosion echoed though the canyon.

As Miko watched, a gigantic fireball smashed against Skyquake's chest. It crossed the sky in almost an instant and flew right over Miko's head, emerging somewhere from behind. The force of the collision knocked the Terrorcon back like a wrecking ball, exploding against his chest like an act of nature. Such a force interrupted the Con from taking its final step, sending it teetering backwards.

Then with his balanced lost, the Con fumbled backwards with a crash, its chest smoking as it fell.

Miko gaped, unsure of what had happened. The Terrorcon had been just seconds from crushing her, and yet now it was on its back like an upside down turtle.

Blinking with wide eyes, Miko turned around and glanced back at her friends.

Both Raf and Jack stood in the distance, just a few feet from their cover. Yet something had changed. Raf was at the side, his eyes just as wide as Miko's. But Jack? The teen as staring not at Miko, but at the Fallen Decepitcon. His hands were intertwined in a hand-sign and a frown was burned onto his face.

A frown that had smoke billowing out the sides of his lips.

"You're always so reckless, you know that right?" he grumbled.

Utter silence echoed throughout the canyon. Miko was speechless, Raf was speechless, Skyquake was still an undead zombie, and Jack just looked angry. But as the massive Con slowly started to rise again, reality seemed to smack the three right across the face.

"Miko!" Jack yelled, "Move already!"

Snapping out of her shock, Miko quickly tore her foot out of its tiny prison and got to her feet. Skyquake had almost done the same as well, rising up from the ground like the walking corpse that he was. But while the Terrorcon struggled to its feet, Miko wasted no time and ran like hell, quickly returning to her friends and a small manner of safety.

Reunited once again, the three teens took a moment to let their nerves finally settle.

A moment that was instantly ruined the moment Skyquake's footsteps made themselves known once again. The tiro turned around and glanced over their shoulders, noticing the Terrorcon as grew even closer yet again. So upon seeing the undead once more, the trio did the wisest thing they could think of.

They ran, shooting right down the Canyon yet again.

The Con still after them, Jack and the others escaped down one of the more cramped pathways that the Canyon offered. It wasn'y much, but even something of Skyquake's size would have some trobule with getting to the trio while they were there. If anything, it merely gave them a chance to rest and catch their breaths.

While they rested though, Miko reached into one of her pockets and pulled out Raf's glasses.

"Here, Gramps..." Miko sighed, handing back the boy's spectacles.

Blinking, Raf smiled up at the girl and gladly took back his glasses. Things had all been a blur without them, "Thanks."

"Its fine," the girl shrugged, waving off the boy's thanks, "Nothing much. But, what I'd like to know is..."

Miko sent Jack a look, "WHAT WAS THAT!?"

Of the three teens, Jack still struggled to regain his breath. Yet even while clutching his knees, the teen sent Miko a slight glare, "What?"

Miko blinked. Red eyes flashed across the girl's face like two hot knives, pushing past her defenses until her spine shivered. Pushing such uncomfortableness aside though, Miko got back to the matter at hand. "That...thing! The thing with the fire! What was it!? I didn't see and you were just standing there and...and-!"

"Miko," Raf pointed out, "You're blabbering."

"Don't care!" she yipped, "What was that?! How did...did you...shoot fire?!"

Just about having caught his breath, Jack stood up and averted his gaze, "I..."

The teen crossed his arms, earning a strange look from his two companions. Jack was never the type to get nervous or antsy, at least outside a few specific situations. Yet now, he wasn't even meeting their gazes (which was a kinda a relief after the glare he had sent Miko), "Its...complicated."

Miko blinked, "Complicated?"

"How complicated could it be? You shot a gigantic, FIREBALL out of your mouth! That..." the girl rambled excitedly, "...that was just awesome! What is it!? Are your lungs made of fire?! Your heart?! Are you part Dragon or something?! A wizard!?"

Jack clenched his teen. The girl's utter excitement getting to him. The teen couldn't tell Miko for one very good reason. He didn't know! How could he explain something he didn't know himself?! It wasn't something one could so easily put into words, and Miko's excited antics weren't helping either.

"I Just...I don't know, okay?" he sighed, "Its complicated Miko, very complicated and I'll try to explain latter okay? I just...I'm not entirely sure myself."

The girl blinked, "Huh? What daya mean?!"

"It means...I'm not sure." Jack muttered, pinching his nose. The whole matter was giving a headache.

Though, Miko surely wasn't helping either, "...could I get the short version then?"

"I don't know!" Jack shrugged, exasperated, "Short version, I just can! Saw something in a dream, tried it myself, and bam! I can breathe fire! Okay!?"

Such skills weren't so easily dismissed. Jack made plenty of attempts to find a reason for such a trait. Records regarding others (aside from freak-shows) with similar abilities and of the like. But as he did when investigating his eyes at an earlier age, Jack found nothing. His pyrotechnic abilities were a mystery, even to himself.

Miko huffed, "Well that sucks."

"Yes, well. Tell me something I don't know, Miko!" Jack snapped, unamused by the girl's disappointment.

As the signs of another argument began to form, Raf opened his mouth to interrupt.

But before he could even do that, the three teens were struck silent when a thunderous vibration echoed under their feet. It began as only one, a thunderous booming sound in the distance. But like a chain reaction, more and more vibrations echoed through canyon like a footsteps through an old house.

Their conversation shattered, the three glanced behind each other and froze.

Despite how narrow the passage was, Skyquake slowly manged to push its way through the canyon. Even if it had to tear up its own frame, nothing seemed to be stopping the Terrorcon from getting at the children. It was like a wild animal, staving and willing to do anything to get its prey. Which, just so happened to be three somewhat defenseless humans.

"Scrap…" Jack cursed, "What now…?"

Raf and Miko glanced at each other, neither having the answer they needed. The trio was stuck in some strange dimension with an undead Decepticon. Not only that but they were trapped with no possible way to contact the bots, or even escape! So when presented with a near hopeless situation, the three did the first thing that came to mind.

They ran, again.

Still running in the opposite direction as the Terrorcon, the three children didn't wait for the beast to catch up before running. But while running, the three shifted to a topic that seemed much more important than Jack's pyrotechnic abilities at the moment. As in, what they could do about the walking, growling, undead monster.

Of the three, Miko was the first to actually give a suggestion, "We could set a trap! Try and crush'em!"

"With what though?" Raf pointed out, "Theres nothing here solid enough except for us and the ground!"

As they ran, the children quickly realized just how empty the canyon was. All it had was its walls, the children, Skyquake, and a few random bolders. And without a method of getting atop the canyon, the options the teens had when it concerned crushing their undead foe were...limited.

Frowning, Miko blinked and turned to Jack, "Why don't you try and barbecue him again?"

Somewhat glad the girl wasn't asking questions about the fire itself, Jack sighed and shook his head, "Won't help. It can stun them, but whatever I can do isn't enough to take out one of them, I've tried."

"Tried? On who?" Miko blinked.

Jack sighed, "That mission where Arcee and I got stuck on, the one with the evil spider we told you about? I shot her in the face once."

"...whoa..." she muttered, "Thats awesome!"

Memories of the event made Jack smile, "Yeah. Only made her mad though. But it was fairly useful when I blew up her ship. I never knew that Energon was so flammable."

"Still wish I hadn't stood too close though."

The explosion from the ship seriously had not been the most pleasant experience for Jack. In fact, he still felt quite sore from that one. Standing near explosions was not something Jack would advise, even for the most dreadful of situations.

Still, such memories wouldn't save them from the Terrorcon.

"Still, thats awesome!" Mkio yipped, "Is there anything else you can do!? Create waves of water? Control Wind?! Shoot Lightening!?"

Jack rolled his eyes, "No, no, and how is that even a thing!?"

Seriously? Who in their right mind could control lightening? It sounded completely insane. Or at least, it would have if it wasn't for the fact that Jack could breath fire. Hell, for some reason all those suggestions didn't sound all THAT strange to the teen. Some even sounded possible given what he knew. Heck, he could even look into some of those.

After they were safe anyway.

"So...you can't do anything else?" the girl then asked, sounding disappointed.

Still running, Jack rubbed his eyes and shook his head, "I...I can...well, No but its nothing that can help us right no! I swear. We might as well keep running until we think of something else more...reliable!"

Miko blinked, "Wait, so you can-"

"Focus! Explanation, later!"

As Jack was nearly ready to snap at his friend, a sudden noise interrupted the teen. It was music, somewhat loud and a tad bit irritating. But the very sound of it made the three stop, gasping at each other. Strangely, the music sounded like it was coming from one of the teens, which instantly caught their attention. Many of them knew what often played such music, as two of them often held one at all times.

"Is that..." Raf muttered before realizing.

"PHONE!"

Without delay, Jack instantly reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. Once in his hand, the teen noticed the incoming call. He flipped the device open and pressed it against his ear. He didn't care if it was his mother or his boss from work calling. Anything from the outside world would of been appreciated at the moment.

"He-hello!? Arcee!?" he frantically asked, "You there?!"

Static echoed through the phone's earpiece. Nothing but static. No hint of word or response at all. Just a load of static.

Biting back a hiss, Jack pulled the phone away and sighed, "Nothing."

"Well imagine that!" Miko mused, sarcastically, "The Fourth Dimension has _lousy_ cell phone reception!"

Despite the disappointment, Jack blinked and realized something, "W-wait, hold on. Guys, the Phone rang...it actually rang. We're getting a signal here!"

The teens couldn't talk, touch, or physically interact with the outside world in any way, but the phone still got a signal. Despite their dislocation with the rest of their reality, the phone seemingly still had at least some connection to where the teens had come from, a connection to their home.

"Maybe the bots can see or here us...because we're going at Hyper speed or something?" Raf guessed, taking a shot in the dark.

The teens had little else to explain how they could in another dimension and yet still be in the same place. It made no sense and yet, they were living it.

"Maybe...but do you think the bots can read us?"

* * *

_-Later-_

* * *

"How can this guy be so dainty looking, yet his arm still be so freaken heavy!?"

Jack sighed, "Miko, priorities!"

"I'm just saying! He looks like a twig compared to Bulkhead!"

"Everyone looks like a twig compared to Bulkhead!" Jack grumbled, "Now push!"

After discovering the loose connection they still had to the outside world, Jack, Miko, and Raf quickly came up with a gamble of a plan. By using Jack's phone, the trio sent the Autobot's a text message, hoping to have Miko's phone receive it back at the base. Due to Miko dropping it, the teens were sure that it had to still be back at in the Command center, where at least some of the bots had to be.

Though, their plan was still a gamble. The three had to wait to see if the bots had even gotten their message, and even if they did, they had to contend with a certain Terrorcon until the bots mounted a rescue. If one was even possible.

Luckily for the three, there had been no shortages of places for them to run as Skyquake approached. In fact, the Canyon was seemingly a never ending circle of stone and dirt. No dead ends or narrowing passages appeared, not even once. Miko even swore they had passed by a particular rock over a dozen times at one point.

Everything appeared to be repeating itself, over and over again. It was like an ever repeating background, never changing or taking a different turn.

At least, that was until the teens ran into something new.

Literally.

After one turn in particular, the trio crashed face first into a large metal forearm. The limb was massive, easily bigger than Miko, Raf, and Jack combined. As it lacked the rest of its body, the arm only went up to where the elbow would have been, thus leaving a clawed hand, forearm, and a large red missile alone on the canyon's floor. Yet at a mere glance, the three instantly recognized what they had discovered.

Somehow, the three teens had discovered the remains of Starscream's arm. The same one Optimus had blown off earlier that same day.

Upon literally crashing into said appendage, Raf suggested that the same explosion that had sent them and Skyquake into the Shadow Zone might have also caught the limb during all the confusion. Things had been falling apart around everyone, so perhaps Starscream had dropped it in the confusion.

It was odd, and the timing was so good that it was strange. Yet when the teens heard their undead purser catching up with them once again, an idea struck them. Nearly everything in the Canyon, due to the nature of their predicament was impossible to touch. The teens merely passed right through anything aside from the ground, the walls, and Skyquake itself. But by slamming into Starscream's arm, the teens realized that it was solid...

And, it was armed.

The red missile was undamaged and functional, ready to be fired. It was a weapon, practically having fallen right into the children's lap. And with the undead monster still lumbering towards them, Jack, Miko, and Raf quickly rushed over towards the arm and began to redirect the arm.

Instead of laying across the Canyon's floor, the three teens slowly pushed the arm until the missile's tip was pointed towards one end of the Canyon. The same end where Jack, Miko, and Raf had ran from, where their feet had carried them away from their looming doom.

And where Skyquake soon emerged from, moments later.

With the appearance of the massive undead, Jack and the others quickly picked up the pace. They continued to push the limb until it was pointed directly at the lumbering Terrorcon. Once in position, Jack and the others quickly got into position, leaping to the limb's side and prepared to fire.

Finding how to fire proved to be difficult at first. Miko had a bit of trouble with finding the trigger and fumbled around while looking. Thanks to Raf though, the three remembered the strange gestures Starscream normally made with his fingers, which were nearly always followed with the discharge of his weapon.

Upon finding this out, Jack ran to the very front of the limb and grabbed one of the fingers.

Tension suddenly filled the air, the two forces staring each other down. Skyquake lumbered forward, approaching the trio. Jack and the others waited, watching as the Con approached. It stomped ever closer, his shadow looming over the trio. Yet still, the teens didn't grow worried or freak out...

Instead, they waited...waited, right up until-

"NOW!"

Before the Con could react, the three teens pulled down on one of Starscream's fingers. The mechanism within the arm instantly activated and set loose the ignition within. A fire exploded out the back of the missile, sending it flying straight toward the lumbering undead Decepticon.

The missile struck dead center on the Terrocon, smashing into Skyquake's frame with a thunderous bang. The Con himself only had a moment to blink at what had happened, his purple optics wide when it hit.

A massive explosion echoed through the canyon, engulfing half of the clearing within a few seconds. The booming explosion quickly consumed the Con with a wave of fire, similar to the fireball Jack had unleashed just earlier. Yet unlike then, the fire was soon followed by a wave of smoke, which expanded far into the canyon's halls.

Jack and the others ducked behind Starscream's limb as the smoke engulfed the clearing, protecting themselves from the ash and surrounding walls weren't as lucky, as metal shards and the aftershock itself crashed into everything they could reach.

Once the smoke passed however, the teens slowly emerged from their cover and looked around, watching for the results of their gambit.

"Did we get it...?" Miko muttered.

Stepping up, Jack focused his eyes and glared off into the distance. Through the smoke, the boy's eyes twisted into their crimson form and cut through the smoke. His eyes cut through the cloud of smoke and ash, gazing through into what sat at its center.

Upon seeing what was there though, Jack bit his lip and took a step back, "No..."

Before any of the teens could question Jack's words, a large metal arm swung its way through the smoke.

A revolting hiss emerged from the cloud as Skyquake emerged. His frame was till beaten and broken but nothing new had appeared. Barely a new scratch was upon the Terrorcon's frame. All the missile had caused was an spark of rage within the undead, who's purple optics glared at the children.

Miko slumped her shoulders and groaned, "Are you serious?!"

"Whats it take to hurt this thing!?"

Seconds after the Con took the step it stopped once again. Sparks suddenly sprang froth from his left arm, a painful creaking of metal and wires filling the air. Then with a thunderous crash, the Terrorcon's arm promptly fell off and smashed into the ground.

Jack and the others stopped, delaying their escape again.

Energon dripped from the broken Decepticon's broken body. Skyquake's armor was broken, shattered from the missile. Energon flowed from the wounds, damaged from the destructive explosion. His arm bled as well, Energon dripping from the stump that had once connected the Con and its limb together.

Seconds of silence passed, Jack, Miko and Raf simply staring wide eyed at the broken Con and its arm. One say silent on the ground while its owner watched in confusion...

Until the arm sprang back to life! The phantom limb flipped itself onto its palm and began crawling across the ground, making a beeline towards the three teens. It jerked unnaturally, moving fast despite being a mere hand. Energon even tailed behind it, like blood dripping out of a severed hand.

"AGH! What the-!?" Miko yelled.

Jack didn't wait. The moment the limb began to move, he grabbed both teens and screamed, "RUN!"

The chase began once more. Jack, Miko, and Raf ran through the clearing and down into the canyon yet again. Only this time, they had two pursers. The Undead Decepticon and his living limb. One of which, actually proved quite faster than the other.

"Seriously?! When is the Zombie's arm, faster than the Zombie itself!" Miko shouted as they ran.

"Less talking, more running!"

There was no more time for resting, no time to hide. Skyquakes arm moved along the ground like a spider, using all of its fingers to crawl across the canyon's floor with no trouble. It even latched onto the canyon's walls and propelled itself though the air, leaping from one boulder to another.

The children continued to run but found the undead limb gaining ground on them, and fast.

Raf fumbled, nearly tripping up as they ran, "W-what do we do now!?"

Jack bit his lip. Glancing over his shoulder, the teen saw Skyquake's arm, dangerously close as it chased after them. But as the monster's limb inched closer and closer to the trio, Jack's eyes caught something.

Trailing just behind the limb itself was Energon, pouring out of the arm as it moved. The broken portion of Skyquake's arm was just like a real wound. Energon poured out of the damaged section like blood would for a human. And with this gaping wound, Energon continuously continued to escape, leaving behind a trail along with a steady stream of the substance.

Merely seeing it gave Jack an idea. As they ran, the teen turned to Raf and caught his attention.

"Hey, Raf?" Jack muttered to the teen, "How much Energon do you think is still in that thing?"

While still running for their lives, Raf glanced back and shrugged, "Dunno! If its still moving, then it still needs to have some!"

Energon was like blood to a Cybertronian, they needed it to function at all times. Without it, they would collapse and offline, right on the spot. So for something like an arm or a limb to move, there still had to be something inside, even if it was a corrupted version of the substance.

Jack smirked, "Alright, hold on for a moment!"

Stopping dead in his tracks, Jack threw his friends in front of him and turned to face the approaching limb. Miko and Raf fumbled to a stop, neither quite ready to stop so suddenly.

Raf flinched, "Jack!? What are you doing!?"

"Have you gone bonkers?!" Miko yelled, gaping at the teen.

Their words fell on deaf ears. Jack forced his eyes on the approaching limb and quickly ran through several hand-signs. Miko and Raf blinked at what he was doing, the bot still confused. His hands were quick and without mistake, working against the speed of Skyquake's arm.

His eyes watched as the arm grew closer. Its sharp, piercing claws reached out to grab him and rip him apart. The mere sight pushed Jack faster, as did the screams of his friends.

As the limb leaped into the air, Jack slammed his hands together and took a deep breath.

Time seemed to come to a crawl. The limb leaping through the air, Raf and Miko screaming in shock, and Jack?

Fire blasted out of his mouth, slamming directly into the arm in mid leap.

An explosion engulfed the two forces as the fire crashed against the Undead Limb. Yet unlike Skyquake himself, the Con's arm didn't crumble against the flames. It pushed on through, tearing through the blunt of the explosion like it was nothing. The arm pushed onward toward Jack, with its claws burning read as it reached out.

Miko and Raf gasped and screamed, their voices almost drowned out by the explosion itself. As they yelled though, Jack did nothing. He didn't move or twitch. The teen merely stood on and watched.

He watched and glared, observing as the fire ran down the limb's side...

Still in mid-air, Skyquaike's arm came to a thunderous halt. An explosion ripped though the back end of the arm and sent both metal and wires flying. All momentum it had quickly turned to ash, like a powerful force had smacked it backwards.

With one final attempt to reach out and grab Jack, the limb fell from the sky and crashed into the ground like a brick.

Now disabled, Jack, Miko, and Raf all stepped forward and watched. They saw flames shot up through the back end of the arm and ignite the Energon that had been trailing out. The substance burst into flames upon contact with Jack's assault, even following the trail the limb had left as it chased them. All the Energon, outside and in quickly ignited, causing the limb to stutter and creak.

The flames began tearing the limb apart from the inside out. Fire peaked through its cracked frame, and the limb's fingers twitched as everything began to collapse. Jack took one step back as the arm reached forward, almost desperately as if it was tried to grad the teen.

Yet before it could even touch him, fire cracked through the remains of the arm and split it wide open.

A thunderous explosion, like the one that had happened when the two forces had met rang once more. The teens took a step back and covered their eyes, each nearly blinded by the intensity of the explosion.

But like before, the detonation vanished into the wind, leaving behind nothing but a shattered hole in the ground in its place.

Seeing this, Miko let loose a cheer and pumped her arm into the air,"Alright! How was that indigestion!?"

She wasn't alone in her cheering though. Even Raf took a second to sigh in his relief. The sight of the massive arm chasing the trio had nearly given the poor boy a heart attack.

Of the three, Jack merely shook his head at Miko's joke and fell to his knees. He felt tired beyond belief. Jack wasn't even sure if he could keep himself upward if he wanted to. Everything from his arms to his legs and even his lungs felt as if they had been thrown into a meat tenderizer and beaten until raw.

His friends quickly stopped cheering and turned around., "Jack?!"

Without waiting, Miko and Raf snapped to Jack's side and helped him to his feet, "Dude, you okay?"

"I...I'm fine..." Jack muttered, "Just...tired."

An unconvincing look was shared between Raf and Miko, unsure of how to react. Little time was given to do such a thing though. As before the two could comment on Jack's condition, all three of the trio stopped when a familiar rumble echoed behind them, like a nightmare refusing to let them wake up.

With great reluctance, Jack, Miko, and Raf turned around and gulped.

The phantom limp might have been taken care of, but the Con itself was still quite active. And it was moving...

Miko flinched, "Well, you can complain about your cramp later! We gotta go!"

Biting back a angered remark, Jack allowed Miko to support him as he got to his feet. With the three of them up and moving yet again, they quickly tried to put as much distance between them and Skyquake yet again. But almost as if fate itself was messing with them, a sudden noise echoed through the air.

"Oh, what now!?" Miko groaned.

Turning to face the source of such a noise, the teens stopped in their tracks. In front of them was something very familiar to the teens, a massive green portal. A Ground Bridge had appeared, swirling to life just a few yards in front of the three, snuggled right in between the massive walls of the canyon.

Jack, Miko, and Raf all gasped at the portals sudden appearance and cheered, "YES! The Bots got our message!

Their freedom now in front of them, Jack Raf, and Miko wasted no time and ran towards the portal. Skyquake lumbered after the trio, its purple optics staring at the portal as well. Haste propelled the teens forward, none of them daring to look back at the Terrorcon as they ran through the Bridge.

Within a snap of a second, Raf, Jack, and Miko fell to the ground once again. They shot out of the portal, fumbling over each other before coming to a stop. The three basically ended up in a pile, stumbling over each other as they stared wide eyed at the sky.

"We're...we're back..." Jack muttered, "Finally..."

All three of the teens sat back and laughed, the blueness of the sky starting right back at them, "Guess the bots know how to check a text message..."

"Yeah...hard to imagine with their big fingers though-"

A sudden noise stopped the three silent. Their relief vanished like a match being blown out, having come and gone so quickly.

Jack, Miko, and Raf slowly turned around, fearfully gazing back at the Bridge...

Which was still open.

A painful, creaking echoed out of from the Ground Bridge. Through the swirling vortex, a large rusted arm emerged from the portal. Its blackened talons clawed at the ground, pulling the rest of its form through the gate. The teens gasped and took a step back.

Energon dripped from the ruined Con. It howled and screamed like death as it pulled itself back into the waking world. Jack and the others stood in shock, watching as the Terrorcon re-emerged. However, as Skyquake tried to pull itself out of the Ground Bridge, the portal itself began to fade. Between two dimensions, the portal acted like a bridge.

One that was cracking and splintering, ripping itself apart under the strain.

The three teens scrambled to their feet and took a step back. Even while back in their own world, the three prepared to make a break for it like they had previously. But before they began the chase again, Jack stopped and stared at the looming Undead.

He then saw the Energon still bleeding out of the ruined Con and grasped on final idea.

Despite his weakened state, the teen weaved together one final set of hand-signs. His vision was blurry and his eyes stung like bees were inhabiting them,yet he pushed on through. Then with a deep breath, Jack pulled all his current strength in and fired one final blast of fire at the Terrorcon.

The flames struck Skyquake hard, crashing into his body. The Con itself wasn't harmed by the flames, especially with how smaller they had been in comparison to Jack's previous attacks. But what did react was the Energon on his frame. The trances and pools that had been dripping out of his body reacted in a fiery display, exploding against the beaten Con.

Skyquake roared and howled, the Energon reacting just as it had with his limb. The fire shot into his body, igniting the Energon that ran through his many veins. Explosions racked his form, loosening his grip.

And with the flames all meeting at his core, Skyquake was consumed by a massive eruption of fire.

The explosion knocked Skyquake back while tearing his hand free from the ground it so desperately clutched. The Terrorcon that had been terrorizing the three teens flew backwards into the Ground Bridge, back into the Shadowzone...and disappeared, vanishing into the vortex.

With the strain of bridging two dimensions coming to a apex, the Ground Bridge closed moments later, unable to stay open.

"Wow..."

"I think that got'em..." Miko noted while Raf nodded dumbly.

Jack though? He fell onto his back and sighed. The teen was exhausted, tired in more ways then he could imagine. Muscles were worn, bones felt like frail sticks, and such an urge to just fall onto his back and sleep the day away was almost too demanding to ignore. So much so, that Jack let out a sigh and sat down.

"I'm just going to lay here for a while guys..." he mumbled, "Just...rest for a minute, okay?"

Smiling to himself, Jack fell back onto the ground and closed his eyes. Miko and Raf blinked at the boy, staring wide eyed at...well, everything that had happened.

Though as their minds tried to settle back down, the duo looked up when a familiar sound echoed just a few yards away.

A Ground Bridge appeared, and a large red and blue Autobot walked out, a relieved look gracing his face.

* * *

_-Autobot Base-_

* * *

"I'm..._sorry_."

Jack blinked and barely sat up, "Wait, did I hear that right?"

Their safety assured, Jack, Miko, and Raf gladly returned back to base upon being discovered by the local Prime. They stepped through the Ground Bridge and emerged back into the base, its bright, lively colors helping sooth the torment the three had been through.

All of the Autobots were relieved to see the three alive and well, especially Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee. Even after getting the text message, the three guardians found themselves on the edge of their treads, anxiously waiting for the moment Ratchet locked onto their signal.

After returning, the three teens gladly told the bots of what they had gone through, with Miko the most excited of the trio. Things from Skyquake's rise and fall to just surviving the dimension itself, they spun the bots quite the tale. Thankfully, Raf and Miko said nothing of the details that went on inside the dimension. No mentions of any fires or explosions.

What happened in the Shadow Zone, stayed in the Shadow Zone.

Such as the Autobots being upset with the teens showing up in the first place. If they hadn't, the entire Zombie/alternative universe situation might of been avoided.

Much to everyone's surprise though, the most unlikely of people stepped up to take the blame.

"Yeah," Raf muttered, in equal shock, "You did..."

Jack did a double take and stared shockingly at the third member of their trio, "You sure? Maybe I'm just feeling light headed..."

Miko sent Jack a look and stared at her feet. The Autobots practically surrounded the three, all looking on as if they were ready to chew Miko out. Yet before they could, Optimus smiled down at the three and shook his helm, "Miko, what you had experienced today is lesson enough. We are all just glad you three are safe."

As Miko blinked up at the Prime with both confusion and relief, Bulkhead walked over to the girl and leaned forward with a tiny pink device pinched between his fingers.

"Seems it was a good thing that you lost this, huh?" he noted, "Sorry you weren't able to get any pictures though."

Smiling up at the Wrecker, Miko gladly took her phone back and shrugged, "Eh, its alright. After today, I think I have a Zombie close up permanently seared into my brain."

Bulkhead blinked at the girl and smiled. He and the rest of the boys shook their heads at the girl, each only imagining what they had seen. After all, if they really had to deal with a Terrorcon, the three children were more than lucky to be alive.

But they were, and all were happy for it. As such, once everything calmed down, each of the bots and their charges finally allowed themselves to calm down. Miko and Raf plopped themselves back on the nearest couch while the bots looked on, merely relieved that they were okay.

In the meanwhile, Jack sat down on some nearby steps and took a deep breath.

While the others were relieved to be alive, Jack was just tired. His whole body felt worn, beaten, and strained to the limit. Even the experience with Airachnid could of been compared to a light jog in comparison to how his legs felt alone. Jack had no energy, and honestly? He had no idea why. He wasn't out of shape, and he wasn't tired beforehand, so what had changed...

_'Well,'_ he inwardly mused, _'There was all the...fire.'_

With how much...fire he had been spewing, maybe that was the reason? Was he like a gas tank, and the flames had just burned up what energy he had? But then again, could that really be the case? Why did spewing fire make him tired? Where did the fire come from? Did it burn his energy like a mile jog or something?

Every question made the teen's head spin, why could he breath fire when he made some hand-signs he got from a dream? Where did they come from, why did they cause him to breath fire, and to top it off, did it have anything to do with his damn eyes-

"Jack? You feeling alright?"

Cut from his thoughts, Jack looked up.

Arcee stood just off to the boy's side, casually leaning on the human platform.

Jack shook his head, "Yeah...just a bit worn out, you know?"

Pushing herself off the platform, Arcee frowned. Concern flickered in her optics, something that had been there since the boy had returned. Physically, both Jack and Ratchet had assured everyone that the teens were fine. Scuffed up and tired surely, but fine otherwise.

But to the femme? She wasn't too sure.

The way Jack fumbled to the stairs and sat down just didn't mesh well in her Spark.

"You sure?" she asked again, "You look about ready to fall over."

Falling over was quite the understatement. The slightest breeze would of been more than enough to knock Jack on his side, "Feels like it. I actually feel like I'm one of Ratchet's tools whenever Bulkhead gets warmed up over something. Just...less squished."

The femme winced, "Ouch. Well, at least Ratchet's recommendation will have some merit to it now. Maybe some rest will do you some good?"

Glancing up at the femme, Jack yawned and nodded. He couldn't deny, that did sound nice. Crawling into bed and sleeping the pain away like a bad hangover? He could do that. Jack was even willing to just collapse on a couch instead. Something soft like a pillow, a mattress, or even a blanket? Any would do.

The femme watched as the boy yawned, her worry slowly drifting away, "Wanna head home? I doubt anyone will mind all that much."

"Eh...maybe." Jack muttered, still yawning, "Doesn't sound to bad..."

Hearing that, Arcee smiled. The femme was starting to grow worried that she might have to take a page out of his mother's handbook and drag him back home if necessary. But she couldn't deny, the teen was a tough guy, even after everything he and his friends had been through.

"Well, just say the word when you're ready." she told him, "I'm ready when you are."

A yawn was Jack's response, something as good as any nod. Satisfied, Arcee leaned down and gave her partner a pat on the shoulder before departing. She remained in earshot and merely sat in wait for whenever Jack decided he wanted to head home.

Once she was gone though, Jack leaned back and stared at the ceiling. The idea was tempting, he could admit.

After the day they had, who could blame him for wanting to head home early?

Sitting up, Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Luckily, the device hadn't been damaged during their escape and unlike Miko, Jack knew how to hang onto his phone. No having to worry about it being lost or stepped on by accident. Upon checking it, the teen noticed the time and smiled.

There was still plenty of time before his mother got home. More then enough for him to get a small nap...

"Hey Jack!"

Before he could even close his phone, Jack sighed, "...of course."

Snapping his phone shut, Jack turned around and glanced up the stairs to the human's platform. At the top, Miko and Raf smiled and slowly made their way down to their friend. Strangely, the former of the two had a smile on her face, practically brimming with excitement.

"Hey..." he muttered tiredly at the two, "Whats up?"

Of the two, Raf remained silent. Instead, he simply glanced at Miko as she grinned, "Hey, you remember what you said back in the Shadow Zone?"

"Something about explaining later...?"

Jack blinked at the duo, his mind a little fuzzy due to his weariness. Miko continued to grin though and eventually something clicked within Jack's head. Once he realized this, Jack let out a groan and shook his head at the girl, "Really Miko? Right now? Couldn't you wait a little bit? I feel dead on my feet."

Both literally, and figuratively.

At that Miko frowned, "Still?! Come on lazy bones! You can't still be tired!"

The teen turned around and glared up at Miko. Their eyes met, and for a moment, the girl froze. Jack's eyes were akin toe an angry animal, ready to snap at a moment's notice. Though in his case, that moment would arrive once he had full feeling in his legs again.

Regardless, Miko took a step back. She shook her head and huffed, "Fine. Whatever."

With her arms crossed, Miko walked back up the steps and hopped back on the couch. As she vanished, Raf let loose a small sigh. The girl had been bouncing in her seat since the bots left them alone. In fact, he wouldn't of been surprised if she came back no more than five minutes later to ask again, regardless of the answers given.

Now alone, Raf turned to Jack and gave him a concerned look, "You sure you're okay?"

"We both thought you were out of it after the Ground Bridge closed."

Without Miko there it irritate him, Jack dropped his gruffness and sighed. He leaned back and felt how worn out his body was. His bones in particular felt brittle as they could be, like they could snap with the slightest poke of even the tiniest of sticks, "Yeah, I'm just worn out, you know? Like I ran a few miles in under a few minutes..."

"Maybe you just...overdid it?" Raf suggested, "With the fire I mean."

Raising a brow, Jack rolled his shoulders and shrugged, "Thats what I was guessing. Three times seems to be my limit before I...well, you're looking at it."

Worn out, beaten, bruised. There were a multitude of ways one could describe Jack's form. And while he couldn't put the exact cause on his pyro antics alone, it did kinda fit. Each time Jack spat out some fire like a flamethrower, he felt weaker. His breath taking longer to catch up, the weakness in his body, and then just nearly collapsing from it all.

The fire had drained him, for some reason.

"Maybe some practice would help then?"

Jack stopped, blinked, and glanced up at his friend, "What?"

Despite the boy's dumbfounded expression, Raf shrugged and sat up, "Dunno. Maybe you should practice with it a little bit, build up a tolerance. Then next time, you won't be so tired if you have to do it again?"

Before Jack could comment on such an idea, the boy stood up and shrugged, "Just a thought."

Seeing how tired Jack was, Raf stood up and followed after Miko, maybe hoping to keep the girl occupied before she grew impatient again.

Alone again, Jack leaned back against the stairs and sighed. He closed his eyes and rested his head against one of the steps. Raf, Miko, and the bots themselves began to drift away like a background noise. In fact, everything began to drift away like a pleasant fog.

But as Jack slowly began to drift off to a light sleep, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Practice huh...?" he mused, "Gonna need to find a place...but..."

"Why not?"

* * *

**_AN:_**

_So, another big one isn't it? I swear, I need to work on how long I make these chapters. I'm sure some people arn't that big of fans when there this big, and I'm not either. It just takes longer to do them when a chapter goes this long. I may work on it for the next one though._

_Still, next chapter is when things FINALLY get rolling, big time. If anyone is wondering, I'm not going to follow the episodes plots that often from here on out. Things are going to shift into bigger things...after the next one of course. Though, its not Operation Break down._

_Which one though? Well, you'll just have to wait and see!_

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._


	6. If you dare

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, Viz Media, and Shonen Jump.  
Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro.

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._

* * *

_Chapter: If you dare..._

* * *

_Location: Unspecified._

* * *

Far outside of Jasper, miles away from the Autobot's base, and even beyond what many would consider a point of civilization, there was a massive complex. Hidden away within the landscape, one would've had to look hard to even have a chance of seeing it from the air let along the ground. A blank spot on a map, a black-spot, utterly unknown to the world around it.

Deep within this building sat a chamber. It was dark, no lights shining down from overhead. Absolute darkness engulfed nearly all of it.

All, aside from a set of monitors, propped up by numerous pieces of technology. Computers, wires, storage devices, everything one could imagine was set up and connected to the monitors themselves. Along with such marvels of human ingenuity, there sat something different. It was large, damaged in certain places, and even had pieces of its interior visible from the outside.

But despite all its damages, one thing stuck out. An inhuman design. It was complicated, sophisticated, and required every other piece of technology present to even have a chance to function. To process and maintain its information, the data it contained.

Whatever the machine was, it wasn't human.

"You're ship's black-box was damaged in the explosion, but from what we were able to recover...there should be enough data to reconstruct a few frames."

In front of the monitors sat a man. He bald, scarred head stared at the monitors while his fingers worked. Several hundred bits of data, some of which he had no idea what they meant were flowing through the screens. He scanned it all, smiling as he did.

"Of course..."

In such a chamber however, Silas was not alone. Behind him and above him, there sat a massive figure. It was hidden, the darkness of the room shrouding the imposing figure from sight. Of all of its impressive stature, only a few purples specs could be seen, tiny lights shining through the darkness.

The brightest being two large eyes, which stared deviously at the monitor with anticipation.

They're partnership had been a recent one, and once their goals were achieved, both parties had a feeling they would get what they wanted.

Just as long as nothing went...wrong.

Eventually, the data began to take form. A small video, fractured but playable. There pieces missing, pixels misplaced. Yet as the data flowed, the video became much clearer. A forest, dark and burned came into view. An imposing black ship with a blue fluid substance dripping out of its side also appeared. And in the very farthest point of the screen, a small figure could be seen.

"Ah...there he is..." a voice spoke. Feminine, yet so vile at the same time, "My Jack."

The video finally seemed to settle, evening out its damaged picture. The figure, which had previously been out of focus, finally became clear. It was a teenager, not all that old. He wore jeans, a grey shirt, and had black hair. He looked worn out, beaten, and tired. By the video's depiction though, he was also determined, angry, and quite ready for the worst.

Aspects Silas could respect in certain cases.

Once clear, Silas took a still of the boy's face and began typing away on the computer, "Out facial recognition algorithm will send his appearance throughout the web, search for anything we can find useful..."

Silas glanced over his shoulder and scowled, "Another...type of web."

Saying nothing, the massive figure sat in silence as Silas worked. The monitors flipped out of the video and began flowing through multiple windows of the internet, revealing various databases and sources of information. But after a few minutes of searching, Silas smiled.

"Ah, the mother lode..."

Behind the man, his guest raised a brow, "Government database?"

Silas smirked, "Better, a social networking page. A smorgasbord of personal information. It's all here. Age 16. Location, Jasper Nevada. School, Jasper High. His…Oh...his mother..."

"This could prove useful..."

* * *

_Jasper, Nevada._

* * *

Through the streets of the small and average two, a young boy and his motorcycle slowly made their way back to the teen's home. It was late, the sky was growing dark and many other people were swiftly returning home from their jobs. But of the places they were returning from, Jack's wasn't as normal as what people would assume.

A base manned by giant robots never was after all.

"So...explain to me what you guys were doing again?"

With a chuckle, Jack glanced down at his motorcycle and shrugged, "I told you, we were playing a game. You can only entertain yourself with mind numbing TV and some old games for so long."

Arcee, if she could, would have raised a brow at the boy, "Right, but that doesn't exactly explain why we had to go hunting for you three inside our own base."

"Like I said, we were playing a game. Think, hide and go seek but with a huge Autobot base to hide in instead of going under the bed."

Jack's partner and guardian would have rolled her optics if she could, but being a motorcycle limited her options. So instead she merely shrugged her mirrors. Earlier at the bot's base, the team had to go searching for their human allies and had discovered them deep inside the structure itself; just walking around like it was nobody's business. A bit strange in Arcee's opinion but nothing to be overly concerned with.

Teens would be teens, and as long as he kept them from doing anything dangerous, why should she be worried?

Instead, the two were far more concerned with getting home, which they did after a minute or two more of driving.

Jack and Arcee rolled up to the Darby home in no time flat. It was a simple looking house, nothing overly special and or fancy. About what one would expect from Jasper. Upon turning into said driveway though, the teen stopped Arcee and began wheeling her towards the garage.

"Thanks for walking me home Jack," Arcee chuckled, "You're a real gentlemen."

"Well, I wouldn't want you to get revved up before bed, now would I?" Jack replied jokingly.

Letting their playful words drift off with some laughter, Jack and his partner slowly made their way toward the garage. Once there, Jack quickly began opening the door and glanced at his watch. The time was late, later than what Jack was supposed to be back by. The bot's little hunt for the teens had taken up more time than it should of, leading to a fairly longer stay at the base.

Jack didn't seem worried though. His mother often got the short end of the stick at her job. On average, June barely ever got back before midnight, which aggravated the hell out of the family. The hospital was infamous for such standards and Jack often got downright pissed at it. At times, Jack even asked his mother how she could stand it and if there was anything he could do. But no matter what he said, it was just how things worked for the family.

For once though, the hours seemed to benefit them. Something Jack noted as the garage slowly opened, "Mom should be out working, and I don't think she would understand-"

"Understand what Jack?" a sudden voice interrupted, "You breaking curfew for the third time this month?"

Jack froze in place and felt his eyes go wide. The teen looked up from Arcee and glanced into garage, which should have been vacant. But instead of seeing nothing but a grease stain in the center of the room, his stomach dropped when he saw June standing just a few feet away. Her arms were crossed and her expression?

It could mad a Decepticon drop dead in fear.

The mere sight of it made Jack gulp, "Mom-!"

"Or, what about your boss sending me a call about you missing a shift or two at work?" June continued, "And you're Art History Teacher, who's been concerned about you falling asleep in class?"

A small wince ran through Jack. Due to a few 'incidents', Jack had missed a few days on the job. It wasn't much really, a fast food joint like that couldn't seriously miss him that bad, and Jack didn't miss it either. Though in Art History? That...was a bit more obvious as to what was going on.

"Mom, two words." he pointed out, "Art. History. It's like they're trying to put us to sleep!"

Despite his reassessment, June simply looked at her son and sighed. The anger in her expression seemingly vanished, replaced by one of concern and worry, "Jack, please level with me here."

"Tell me the rumors I've heard aren't true?" she generally asked, "Please tell me that you're not racing that motorcycle?"

Out of everything June could have been yelling at her son for, of the dozens of things the boy himself could think of, that was not one of them, "Huh?"

"Wha-No! No, no, no!" Jack quickly replied, confused out of everything, "No way in-who told you that!?"

June shrugged with sadness in her eyes, "Small town, people talk."

"And with how busted up you've been recently..."

Inwardly, Jack smacked himself in the head. Both the incident with Airachnid and the trip in the Shadow Zone hadn't left him unscathed. Cuts, bruises, and even a few burn marks, Jack had it all. He made some excuses of course, but they never seemed to stick. And with the rumors June had heard? Things began to make an eerily lot of sense...even if they were wrong.

But with such logic, so too did June's anger return, "I work in an Emergency room, Jack. I know full well of what can happen. Seen it too. So please, tell me you haven't fallen into the wrong crowd."

"W-wait, Mom, seriously!" Jack tried to defend himself, "Come on, I wouldn't do that, seriously! And my friends are the farthest thing from a 'bad crowd' as they can get! They're good, seriously good!"

There was also the fact that Arcee would boot Jack across the base before she ever let him do something so mind numbingly dumb, especially WITH her, but that wasn't important.

Excuses and reassurance aside, June shook her head, "Jack, I let you keep the bike because you convinced me that you were mature enough to handle it. But it seems you might need a reminder..."

It didn't take a genius to know what was coming. Jack could see it a mile away. He had been victim of such talks before, so June's tone was nothing new. The warning tone, the knowing look, Jack had seen it all. But as the woman was about to drive her intent home, Jack sent Arcee a look. He REALLY didn't want her to hear. It would've been just too much.

"Alright..." Jack sighed, "Fine, but Mom? Can we...take it inside? People are going to hear and you're kinda making a scene."

He wasn't wrong. The family lived in a fairly small neighborhood with houses packed together on nearly all sides. Of these houses, many had their lights on and were well within earshot. One wrong word and the entire neighborhood could know about it.

Thankfully, June noticed this too. And once she did, the woman scowled at her son and sighed, "Fine. House. Now."

Such words were like an order, and one Jack did not disobey. After sending Arcee a small glance and kicking up her kickstand, both he and June walked through their garage and into the house. The door shut behind them and the mother and son stopped inside their kitchen to finish their conversation.

Once inside, Jack slumped forward and hung his head, "Alright...do you're worse."

There was no getting out of it, he knew it. He could try a clever quip to interrupt his mother, but that would only delay the inevitable. The look in her eyes said all. She was serious, and was so screwed.

June folded her arms and raised two fingers, "Two weeks seems fair."

"No way..." Jack groaned, covering his face. It was worse than he thought!

The mother snapped her fingers and dragged him back into focus, "Serious face here Jack. You're grounded from everything but school and work. None of your 'friends' and no motorcycle for the next two weeks. And if you want to bike to either, you'll have to pedal, got it?"

Jack shivered. The dreaded ten-speed, his old bike. It was what he used to use before Arcee came along. Dreaded memories of the days of old, of when he had to ride such a clunky thing everywhere. It was horrible, and Jack had even been considering barbecuing it too!

"Don't space out on me mister," June swiftly interrupted, "And if I even see that bike out of the garage..."

June didn't finish, her statement left hanging in the air. Yet, she didn't need to. Her son hung his head and nodded. Message received, even with the details left out.

As everything finally calmed down, June softened. Her anger slowly drifted off and walked over to her son. While he glanced at the ground with a sad look, June tilted his head up and held him gently.

"I'm just worried, okay?" she told him, "You're getting hurt, you're coming home late...I just want you to be safe. I know you're not happy, but please, Jack. Just take a break for a little bit. If something were to happen to you, I just..."

It was all June had wanted. She had been angry at first, especially once she first heard about the rumors. But seeing all the injuries Jack came home with made everything worse. It made June worried. If something was happening what if they got worse? The comment about seeing similar things at the hospital hadn't been an exaggeration. Every day June often saw what could happen to someone if they weren't careful.

It was horrific, revolting, and made June shiver everything she saw it. And to picture it happening to Jack? Even slightly? She couldn't take it.

Not with her son.

"Okay?"

Silence followed. Her son said nothing at first, remaining silent while he thought. After a few moments though, Jack let out a soft sigh. He glanced up at his mother and sent her a look. There were so many things he could do. Snapped at his mother, tell her it was unfair. He could have brushed past her, and even ignored her completely.

But after a short moment of silence, Jack nodded. A soft, barely noticeable one but a nod none the less.

It wasn't much, at all. But seeing it made June smile, "Thank you."

She leaned forward and softly kissed Jack on the forehead, "Now, go bring that motorcycle in, wash up, get something to eat, and head to bed, alright?"

The silence returned again but after a second, Jack nodded again. June smiled and patted her son on the back. But with their conversation ended, June departed from the kitchen and made way toward her bedroom. She was exhausted, both from her job and the emotional baggage that came with disciplining her son.

Just before she entered her room though, June turned back and smiled.

"I love you."

For a few seconds, Jack was silent. He said nothing, didn't even face his mother. Yet after a few seconds, he lifted his head and sighed, "I love you too."

His words were a bit rough, tired, yet not forced at all. Conversations aside, Jack couldn't stay that mad at his mother. Frustrated, yes. Irritated, most certainly. But angry? That fire sizzled out quite quickly. If anything, it just made Jack tired, especially given how irritating the next few weeks were going to be.

Be that as it may, such a simple response made June smile. With their conversation done with though, she ducked into her room while Jack turned back to the garage.

Where he'd have to break the news to Arcee.

_'Great...'_ he inwardly sighed.

Swallowing his pride, Jack took a deep breath and began to march back through the house.

While walking though, Jack felt a headache coming on. What a mess he had gotten himself into. Would it of been so hard to explain why he had been so late over the past few days? Why he looked like a punching bag a few times too. Sure, it could have taken some convincing and maybe some demonstration with Arcee, but other than that? Would it of been so bad?

One quick explanation and everything would have been fine!

_'Well, mostly...'_

Though, explaining _everything_ would have been a tad bit...difficult.

* * *

_Earlier:_

* * *

_Deep within the Autobot's base, far away from the Command Center where the bots roamed, sat a charred wall. It was hidden, deep within the base, in a room hidden way and left to rot. Inside such a room, the wall sat charred and burning. Smoke billowed off of it, soot clung to its surface, and small cinders drifted off into the air. The wall was utterly burned to a crisp, like several bombs had crashed against it, as if it was a testing range._

_"Alright! Try again!"_

_Which admittedly, it was in some ways._

_Due to the suggestion Raf had so offhandedly made, Jack decided to actually head the boy's advice. He needed to work on controlling whatever ability he had. Being able to generate fire from your mouth was awesome but it wasn't as useful if you nearly collapsed after just a few tries._

_He needed to train himself, or at least build up some resistance._

_Jack nodded and began weaving the signs yet again. Once complete, Jack took a deep breath and unleashed a massive fireball from his mouth._

_Said flaming orb shot through the air and exploded against the far wall. Fire and ash detonated against the already wounded wall, thickening the scorch mark even more. Such an explosion left little smoke surprisingly, with what had appeared vanishing up into the upper recesses of the room._

_Miko and Raf sat far off to the side, easily out of the danger zone. Once the explosion ended though, Miko popped up from her seat and cheered, "Whoo! YEAH!"_

_"Miko..." Raf muttered at the girl's side, "Why do you do that every time?"_

_"Because it's awesome!"_

_"Every time?"_

_Miko grinned, "Still awesome!"_

_Back off to the side, Jack smiled at his friends. He could admit, Raf's idea hadn't been all that bad._

_Earlier, Raf had pitched an idea. Since Jack often got tired whenever he used his 'strange' abilities it seemed like some practice would benefit him. Like how people often could increase their stamina, perhaps Jack could get used to using his power without getting tired so easily. But, the idea itself didn't seem that practical without a place to actually practice._

_Then came Miko into the conversation._

_Being the overly hyperactive nut that she was, the girl somehow found an easy work around. After a day or so just exploring the bot's base Miko made a discovery. Given that the base had once been a military installation, there were plenty of rooms and compartments that the bots couldn't use. They were just too small, human sized and not built for a Cybertronian._

_And given that they didn't use them, Miko figured...why couldn't they?_

_An empty, massive room where the bots wouldn't have any clue that they were there. A place Jack could practice all he needed without worry of being caught, confronted, or damaging something the bots often used and or needed (Jack didn't want to be the next Bulkhead)._

_Seemed almost perfect._

* * *

_Present:_

* * *

"Or, at least it was supposed to be..." Jack muttered.

The idea of training himself had sounded so tempting. But like most things, it was not without a catch. Keeping it secret from the bots wasn't an easy feat. Just as was it hard to keep it a secret from his mother, the bots often got suspicious whenever the teens just upright and vanished during the day. It helped that the bots often were on missions and such but THAT just made getting home before his curfew even harder.

Which, much to Jack's aggravation, had led to his current situation?

After letting out a sigh, Jack walked back to the garage and swiftly brought the femme inside. The garage door slowly shut behind Jack as they entered, allowing the pair a moment to themselves. Such an awkward conversation had made even the briefest moment seem like a relief.

Once inside, Arcee spotted just how tired Jack seemed "So, I take it that didn't end well. How bad we talking?"

Stepping away from the femme, Jack slumped forward and sighed, "Well, you want the long version or the short?"

"Short would be nice."

"Well," Jack muttered into his hands, "Short deal is. For the next two or so weeks, you'll be riding solo. Until my Mom trusts me again, I'll be sticking to hoofing it to school and work."

Even without her face to do it with, Arcee winced, "Ouch, a little rough isn't it?"

"Might not of been if it wasn't for me looking like grounded beef all the time." he sighed, remembering how his mother reacted after each incident, "But when you combine that and all the times we've gotten back late, she figured that having some time apart would be the best bet for us."

Jack explained, "So for the next two weeks, I'll be tied down like a guy with a ball and chain wrapped around my leg."

"Ouch. Well, I'll miss you while you're grounded." Arcee teased, trying to lighten the mood.

It didn't work, but Jack at least applaud her for trying, "Thanks, you're so sweet."

"Though, I don't suppose it would be too much to ask for you to play the part of the confiscated bike, is it?" Jack suggested, sounding just a bit hopefully.

Arcee's teasing promptly vanished, "Sorry Jack, but I have other duties. I can't really spend two weeks sitting on my fat tires, not when there's stuff to do back at base."

They were partners, guardian and charge, and friends. But among those things, Arcee was also an Autobot. Part of an army, one that had many duties aside from hanging around Jack. Responsibilities like patrols, Energon missions, scouting, and fighting the occasional Decepticon sighting. All of these required her attention, something she couldn't give while stuck in Jack's garage.

Her point made, Jack let out a sigh and leaned back against one of the garage's walls, "Yeah...I kinda figured."

"I don't suppose you would...mind trying to get back before she gets home then?"

Arcee shrugged her handlebars, "That could work. Your mom does often get home late, so I can try to get back before she does."

"Though, no promises."

Her partner nodded, understanding the femme's responsibilities. To expect the femme to be around all day wasn't fair, especially considering that the whole matter wasn't her fault to begin with. At most, Jack hoped things would work out. After all, it was just two weeks. Fourteen days without letting his mother find out about Arcee.

They could handle that, right?"

* * *

_Later that week:_

* * *

Through the streets of Jasper, a teen rode his bike. A frown was on his face and the very bike he rode looked about ready to fall apart. Yet despite both factors, the teen continued to move ahead as he returned home. It as a condition of his punishment after all. The result of a fairly unfortunate set of circumstances that had all come from Jack's own mistakes.

But, the teen and his partner, the second party in the three way conflict were determined to push through their predicament.

And they could. The pair had handled it pretty well so far. Though, that hadn't made it any less boring through.

For the next few days, Jack had been utterly bored. His social life was a wreck. His friends were around during school but aside from that? Jack had little to do. All he had was his crappy ten-speed bike, which was about as useful as it sounded. All it was good for was getting him from school, to work, and back home.

But worst of all? Jack couldn't even take a ride with Arcee anymore. The most he saw of the femme was when he came home to find her in the garage. That's it. No more riding down the roads at breakneck speed. Both flying by with the wind in his hair. The beast bits of excitement Jack could have without nearly getting killed and it was gone.

Well, for the next week or so at least.

Quite a boring week though, Jack had to admit.

With a sigh, Jack slowly peddled his way up his driveway and into his garage. Once inside, the teen quickly spotted a familiar looking bike and smiled. For the past week or so, Arcee had kept to her word for the most part, arriving back home before his mother could even get a chance to suspect that something was up.

Though, such an arrangement wasn't completely perfect.

The very though made Jack's smile drop.

Upon pulling in, Jack also noticed the lack of his mother's car. Both factors swirled together in the teen's head, reminding him of a particular incident. One that happened just a few days prior, when Jack found himself sidelined by his mother coming home early without any warning.

Which just so happened to occur when Arcee hadn't made it home as of yet.

It hadn't ended well.

* * *

_"Jackson William Darby! I can't believe this! After I told you, after you promised me! You lied to my face!"_

_Those words stabbed into Jack like a hot iron. The teen stood in front of his home with the garage door up. Just a few minutes prior Jack had just returned home from a fairly dreadful day at work, not helped by the revolting ten-speed he had to ride due to his mother's grounding. Yet upon returning him, two things had surprised the teen in the worst possible way._

_The first being the lack of a certain Autobot, who had yet to return home. And the second? The boy's mother herself, having taken to leaving early so she could spend time with her boy, maybe even cook them up an actual dinner too. No take out or anything. She sounded so happy when she called, like she had been looking forward to it for quite some time._

_But for what could have been a nice, enjoyable evening became dreadful when June discovered the missing motorcycle, leading up to the very confrontation Jack was being dealt._

_"Now, where is it!?" June demanded, furious at her son, "Where is that motorcycle!?"_

* * *

The very memory made Jack feel like trash.

The anger in his mother's eyes was one thing, but through her anger there was something even worse. Her disappointment. Even though Jack had little control over the situation, June thought he had lied to her, that he had 'spat in her face' so to speak. Out of the promise he had given her, he had tossed on the ground and stepped on it. It was painful, especially given that he hadn't actually done anything wrong.

It was painful, disrespectful, and made Jack want to go find a hole and hide in it for the next week or two.

Arcee had returned moments later of course, just a few minutes too late. A small Ground Bridge dropped her off just behind June, where Jack tried to convince his mother that she had just missed the bike and that he had followed her rules (which he had). Yet, June was so angry that she dismissed such an excuse without batting her eyes. She wasn't one to be fooled and demanded to know how Jack had gotten the bike back without her seeing.

So Jack's response? He told the truth.

The truth about the bots, about Arcee, about where he had been after school. He told June everything.

It...went about as well as it could.

June responded as any sane person would. Calling her son out for such a blatant lie. But the worst part? Arcee just sat there during the explanation, playing to the role of just a boy's motorcycle. Even as Jack asked her to transform and show his mother what she really was, she refused and played possum.

In reality, Jack couldn't blame her. His mother would eventually get over the fight and Arcee's secret would remain intact. Jack however, wasn't as happy. He hated the feeling of his mother not believing him, being disappointed in him, thinking that he would go to such lengths to fool her. But the worst of it? That came after all was said and done, when Jack was sure his mother as going to chew him out.

Yet, instead of doing what he was expecting, June did something far more painful.

* * *

_"Jack..." _

_June let out a sigh and glanced at her watch, "I gotta go back to work."_

_Walking past the teen, Jack stared in shock as his mother walked over to her car and got in. She didn't spare a glance at either him or Arcee, who still sat silent in her normal spot. Instead, June just got in the car and rolled down the window before starting it up._

_Once on though, June spared her son a glance through one of her mirrors and sighed, "We'll finish this discussion later."_

_And just like that, June drove out of the garage and back off to work, leaving Jack standing there in shock._

* * *

That was it. No scolding remarks or screams, no increased sentence, and nothing else to make Jack's punishment worse. Out of all the things June could have done to punish the boy's lack of respect to her authority, all she had done was head back to work and told the boy that they would finish their discussion later.

Yet, to Jack, that was even worse than any anger she could have given to him.

It was the subtle things. The lack of eye contact as she left and the tone she had. Used June barely even glanced at Jack, just opting to send him a look through a mirror as she departed. And her tone? There was no anger, not even a trace. His mother hadn't even been irritated. All Jack could get out of his mother's words was how tired she was, and how disappointed she sounded.

But the last straw? June hadn't even said goodbye.

The pair had barely spoken since then, with June having to leave for work and getting back so late. It made sense for her but felt agonizing for her son. He felt like trash, worse than he had in a long time.

Stopping just in his garage, Jack gripped his handlebars tightly.

June and her son had always been close in their own unique way. Sure, they had gotten into scrapes before, but nothing like this. Eventually, June would cool off and Jack would just have to make things up to her. But the disappoint he saw? It was worse, it was different...

It was-

Jack shook his head. He had to fix this; he had to make it up to her. After all she had done for him throughout his life, was this how he paid her back. Perhaps if he had confronted Arcee first, then she wouldn't have remained silent. She might have agreed to show herself to June and made everything much clearer. But that hadn't happened and it was still his fault.

Jack stood from his bike, motivation sparking in his eyes. It was his fault, and he had to fix it.

_'Alright_,' he thought,_ 'Tonight...'_

Just talking to her would be the first step. He would confront his mother when she got home and talk her down. It would be hard, but the boy was determined if anything.

With motivation burning in his eyes, Jack turned to his partner and smiled, "Arcee, is my Mom home yet? I didn't see her car outside."

"Dunno." Arcee replied, "Haven't seen her."

"Oh, and looks like you got a package or something. It was here when I got back."

Blinking, Jack turned around. After following a slight gesture from Arcee, Jack noticed a strange looking envelope sitting on the steps that led back into the house. It had no writing on it and didn't seem like something June would leave if she was going to be home late. Regardless though, Jack shrugged and picked the package up, revealing a small electronic device inside.

"Wha-"

Before either could question the device, a sudden voice echoed out of it.

"Hello, Jack."

Instantly, the pair knew something was up. Arcee transformed behind Jack and glared down at the device. She had heard that voice before. A sick, sadistic man who had tangled with the Autobots before. He had and his organization had been involved in instances like a train being hijacked, the government's 'Scrapyard' being infiltrated, and a Decepticon nearly getting torn apart by some humans.

It all pointed to the man, and his horrid little group or terrorists.

"Silas." she sneered, recognizing the man's sadistic tone.

Jack though, was a bit more alarmed, "What?! Who-what does he want?!"

Arcee narrowed her optics, "MECH."

"They know where I live?!" the teen yelped.

"Oh, we know much more than that my boy." Silas spoke again, "Like for example, do you know where your mother is, Jack?"

Such a simple question made Jack stop. Slowly, he glanced down at the device. The shock, alarm, and worry all slipped away in those brief seconds. Like ice evaporating in the heat of the sun, anger broke through everything Jack had been feeling. It was a furious anger; one ignited such a simple question.

He was threatening June. Silas had dared to threaten his mother.

"You-What did you do!?" he snarled, his eyes twisting red, "If you've touched her, I'm going to-!"

Before Jack could curse out the monster of a man, Arcee gently reached forward and touched his shoulder. The teen glanced up, his eyes still full of rage. Yet upon meeting the femme's, Jack slowly cool off. Now was not the time to be angry. That would come later. For the moment though, they had to be calm, just until they knew of what was going on.

"Understand Jack, we have no intention of hurting her." Silas replied, talking once more, "In fact, we merely want to reunite the two of you."

Jack sneered, "Oh really, and what's the catch?"

The sound of a scoff echoed over the communicator, "It's fairly simple. I just need you and you're...friend to follow the coordinates I've implanted in this device. They'll lead you to a little facility that I've set up."

As the man rambled on, Arcee slowly lifted her servo to her ear, "Ratchet, come in. I need you to-"

A hissing, painful noise suddenly exploded from Silas's device. It was loud, agonizing, and made Arcee grip her helm in pain. Her attempt to contact the other bots was swiftly interrupted, leaving her in some of the most pain in her life. Even after only a few seconds of hearing it, Arcee dropped to her knees in pain.

Jack gasped, "ARCEE!"

With the femme withering in pain, Jack quickly rushed to his partner's side. But as he did, Silas continued to talk as if nothing was happening, "Oh, did I forget to mention that the signal scrambles both our own signal...and her brain if she tried to contact anyone else?"

Snapping back from his guardian's side, Jack scowled, "Bastard-!"

"Break the connection or try and contact anyone else, the police and or the other Autobots...and well," Silas chuckled, "I won't be held responsible with what might happen."

"We'll be waiting."

With that said, Silas stopped talking. The line was cut and with it, the pain in Arcee's helm ceased as well.

Once Arcee recovered though, Jack glared down at the device in his hands. They had taken his mother because of him. Another thing Jack could blame himself for. He was the link between Arcee and his mother, and without him none of this would be happening. It made Jack furious, with himself and Silas. He wanted nothing more than to throw the device down, to smash it.

Just like he wanted to do to Silas' face.

"Arcee..."

The femme was already ahead of him. Once the pain was gone, Arcee transformed and rolled up to Jack, "Hop on."

They both knew what had to be done. What they had to do. Even without backup, neither Jack nor Arcee could leave things as they were. A trap was likely waiting for them but neither cared. Jack quickly jumped on his guardian and rushed off, blazing in the direction that the device was pointing them.

Through the streets of Jasper the pair rode, flying through street after street without end. Speed limits, stop signs, none of them seemed to matter. The pair was only focused on getting to the coordinates as fast as possible. But as the seconds passed on by, Jack looked down at himself and sighed.

"Another fine mess I've caused..." he muttered, "If anything happens because of me..."

"Jack, it's not your fault." Arcee pointed out, reassuringly, "MECH wants me and have no reason to keep your mom. Once we get there, they'll let her go."

"That's not helping," Jack murmured, "Then they'll have you...it's just trading someone I care about for another..."

Out of everything they had been through, Jack could say that Arcee and his mother were the two most important people in his life. He had few others, and even if it sounded corny, Jack cared deeply about them both. Even thinking about giving Arcee over to MECH made Jack's blood boil...and dim due to how messed up their situation was.

No matter what happened, it felt like he was being set up to lose.

Unknown to the boy though, Arcee smiled to herself. Jack could of been a bit of a child at times, as did any of the other kids. But when push comes to shove? He was something else.

Racing forward, the pair continued to race toward the device's signal. Eventually, it began to lead them toward the outer section of the town. It was lone, nearly abandoned, and a place no one would of expected an evil organization to hide. Once the pair reached the place however, Arcee and Jack stopped and glaring up at where the signal had led them.

"So, what's the plan?"

Arcee growled, "The usual."

"Good."

The duo soon approached the building, glancing around as they did. The place was massive, yet not as abandoned as they might have thought. The closer the duo got, the more figures soon appeared. Men in military uniforms with guns in hand. They wore masks, the trademark of a MECH agent. They sat hidden in the background, carefully watching as the partners inched closer. Jack even spotted a few especially hidden with long ranged rifles in hand, ready to take the pair out if necessary.

A wise decision if anything.

Jack and Arcee paid the men no mind though and carefully made their way inside. The building they had been led to was a massive warehouse, rusted and abandoned to rot.

Once inside though, Jack jumped off Arcee and looked around. He glanced at anything and everything he could see, carefully watching for even the slightest trace of his mother.

"Mom?!" he called out, "MOM!?"

As Jack screamed, a sickening voice echoed from above the duo, "Oh, looking for June?"

In a snap, Arcee transformed while Jack looked up. Fear and shock filled his eyes though, flooring the poor teen with what he saw.

Crawling down from the ceiling was a dark and familiar sight. Airachnid, the sadistic spider of a femme loomed down from her perch, smiling at the pair like they were old friends. She looked all better since the last time Jack had seen her. All the scorch marks were gone; though he was sure she hadn't forgotten them either.

As the femme neared the ground, Arcee placed herself between the duo and sneered, "Airachnid-!"

Airachnid said nothing. She merely stood there, standing just a few feet from the pair. She was like an animal, waiting for the moment to strike. Yet the very sight of her waiting made Jack flinch. He had been hunted by the spider before and she wasn't the type for waiting. Last time she had attacked like a rabid jackal but now?

She was more like a vulture, waiting for the perfect moment-

As the trios stood in a deadlock, a fourth presence made itself known.

While Arcee was focused on Airachnid, a steam of electricity shot out form the darkness. It struck Arcee in the side, shocking her entire form. Jack was knocked back by the sudden attack, leaving him unable to do a thing as his partner suffered. The constant stream of pain lasted for several seconds, filling Arcee with excruciating sensation while Airachnid watched.

Eventually though, it stopped and Arcee, for all her strength, fell to the side into unconsciousness.

Jack shot to his feet and quickly ran back to his partner, "Arcee!"

Reaching her, Jack did what he could to see if she was alright. And while not the nest in regarding Cybertronians, Jack was relieved to see that she was just out of it.

"Oh, that was better than I would have hoped." Airachnid mused, finally moving toward Arcee's fallen form, "I must say that almost makes the time I have planned for us seem pale in comparison..."

"Well, almost." she sneered, flicking Arcee in the face.

Jack furiously snarled at the spider, his eyes burning at her with a fury. If he had the chance he would have set her on fire once again, this time not stopping until she was a pile of molten slag. But while Jack wanted to set Airachnid aflame, the other element in their little meeting finally revealed themselves.

Silas and his men finally stepped out from the shadows, each holding a strange looking gun They had hidden themselves, waited for the perfect moment to strike. It had been a trap, from the very beginning.

Once in view though, a horrid realization struck Jack, "You...the both of you-?!"

He couldn't believe it. How in the hell had MECH found Airachnid, how had they even survived finding her? The femme had wanted to hunt some humans and they would of made the perfect prey. But instead of killing each other, the two groups were standing in front of the teen, smiling down at the unconscious form of Arcee while Jack looked on.

Airachnid chuckled and stalked toward the teen, "Oh, caught on didn't you?"

Silas, paying little attention to the conversation, gestured toward his men, "Gentlemen."

Nodding, the MECH agents quickly moved toward Jack and began to search him. Both his phone and even Silas' device was taken, leaving Jack with nothing to contact the other bots. In a way, Jack was alone, like an island stuck in the middle of a sea of sharks. Hungry, devious sharks.

Once his devices were taken, the MECH agents finally stepped away. As they vanished into the shadows, Airachnid stepped forward once more and leaned down. She looked Jack directly into his eyes, even more amused that he had ever seen her before, "Really Jack, it was a bit simple."

"After you so...rudely destroyed my ship, I was trapped, stuck on this little mud ball. I had nowhere to go, nothing to do..." she mused, playing for fake pity.

"But as things looked dim, my new 'friends' found me. And they, as kind as they were,offered me a deal I just could not refuse." she chuckled, "One little bit of help, and they give me something I've been craving since the last time I saw you. Like a little itch that has been scratching me in the very back of my neck.

Leaning forward, Airachnid inched even closer to Jack's face, "You see Jack, from what I've seen, you people care _deeply_ about your family. I mean really care. So, the _sweetest_ revenge I could possible devise?"

"Making you watch as I _tear_ your family apart..."

Such words struck Jack cold. Instantly, his rage boiled up again. Despite being so close to the Spider, Jack glared up at her ans sneered.

"Ah, there's those eyes again..." Airachnid smiled at a familiar sight.

Jack clinched his hands shut, his eyes burning red, "If you hurt my mother..."

Threat aside, Airachnid just laughed. She sounded so amused, and it mad Jack's blood boil to the point where it nearly exploded out of his skin, "You remember how much I enjoy sport Jack? Well, I suppose I can give you an opportunity to save you mother, if you're willing to play for a little bit."

"I've stashed her nearby. All you have to do is find her...despite a tiny little catch."

A sudden beep sounded behind Jack, something that was loud and electronic. Turning his head, tension exploded within the teen's body. A massive clock stood just a few feet away, counting down to something. What it was, Jack had no idea. But whatever it was, it was sure it was nothing good.

"If you find her before the clock strikes twelve, I'll let you both go~" she laughed, "How about it?"

Jack flinched, his eyes still focused on the clock. Seconds continued to tick by, like a swinging pendulum, "And...if I can't?"

The femme blinked and scratched her chin, "What'll happen?" she mused with a grin, "Hm...what do you think?"

All words died in Jack's throat. He couldn't talk. He glanced at Silas at his men, inwardly hoping that one would have the heart to speak up, to stop such madness.

But one look at the men told Jack all he needed to know.

This was what it was about. MECH wanted Arcee but they cared little for Jack and his mother. They were a means to an end. Airachnid though? This was her plan. She would get Arcee once MECH was finished with her and to top it off, she would have her revenge on the boy who destroyed her ship and humiliated her.

Two birds with one stone.

Regardless of the implications though, Jack couldn't think clearly. The tension, the fear. Both took hold of him.

Frantically, Jack snapped his gaze back and forth, glancing at his choices. The first being the unconscious form of his partner and the second being the exit to the building. He was conflicted, unsure of what to do. Arcee was defenseless, in MECH's clutches while his mother was alone, out somewhere in the dead of night, hidden away like bait for her prey.

Jack fidgeted, "I...I...can't..."

How could he leave Arcee in their hands?! Sure she would live; Airachnid would have her time with her later. But could seriously leave her there?! What kind of partner was he!? But then again, his mother. If Jack didn't go searching for her, then Airachnid would find her first. And if that happened-

As the teen began to freak, Airachnid chuckled and loomed over the nearby clock, "Times running out..."

Like a ticking time bomb, the clock continued to count down. Minutes passed like leaves in the wind, and midnight inched ever closer. Jack glanced at the clock, his eyes widening. There was no time, no time to think, no time to choose. Airachnid just sat there, waiting and smiling, watching with a sickening glee until-

_'Damn it!' _he cried,_ 'I'm sorry!'_

Tightening his fists, Jack let out a furious yell and shot straight out of the warehouse. Silas and the other agents watched on as the boy vanished into the night. Airachnid laughed in glee and followed after the boy, carefully trailing him as he ran. But as he emerged out of the building, Jack gasped and looked around where he and Arcee had ended up.

Warehouses and industrialized buildings spanned in every direction. The pair had ended up in one of the empty, lifeless ends of Jasper where no one commonly roamed. Not a soul could be seen, not even some a random bystander just wandering around randomly. There was no one at all, like the entire portion of the town had been abandoned and left to rot.

Frustration building, Jack quickly took off in a random direction.

As he ran, Jack began yelling as loud as he could. His voice, being so loud, bounced off the buildings and echoed into the distance. But despite how loud Jack yelled, nothing else came back. The area was just as deserted as it seemed, with not a soul around to reply to the boy's pleas.

Not from a stranger, and not from his mother.

_'Damn...damn, damn damn!_' Jack cursed, _'Please be alright, come on! Please!'_

The lack of response pushed Jack harder. He occasionally glanced at the watch on his hand and flinched as the seconds passed by. Almost furiously, Jack ran even faster. Around corners, through empty buildings, Jack ran as fast as he could through the empty streets. His eyes changed occasionally too, switching to their red form as he scanned the world around him.

Without Arcee, Jack was slow. Not slow for a human but given the time he had, he couldn't waste a second. Even thinking of the femme though made Jack bite his teeth.

He'd go back, he'd help her. Jack was sure of it. But for the moment, his mother was in imminent danger. Despite how much it hurt him, Jack continued onward. He couldn't lose his mother, not her. They were all each other hand, and if he messed things up...

_'Mom...where are you!?'_

Frustration built in the teen, dulling his other senses. All he could focus on was finding even a trace of his mother. But as time marched onward, a sudden crash stopped Jack dead in his tracks. Just as he turned a corner, something shot out in front of Jack and slammed into him. It was like a brick wall had appeared out of nowhere and crashed directly into his face.

Such a force instantly knocked Jack onto his behind, leaving him dazed and confused while...something emerged from the shadows.

Two 'somethings' actually, who loomed over the teen while he struggled to regain his bearings.

"Hey there kid," of the duo spoke, "Where you going?"

Shortly recovering from his face-plant, Jack squinted his eyes and looked up.

Above him stood two men, tall and imposing. At first glance, they seemed to be MECH agents with masks covering their faces and grey military uniforms as their attire. Even looking at the pair made Jack feel unease, like they were wild animals, ready to strike. Strangely though, they weren't anywhere near where the others had been. Instead, these men were off the beaten path.

Of the pair, one reached down and hoisted Jack up by the neck of his shirt, "We've been waiting for you squirt, so running out on us seems a bit rude, doesn't it?"

"Wh-what?!"

"You don't really remember us, do you?" the agent asked, "Well, let me give you a hint."

One of the men kicked Jack straight in the chin, sending his head snapping back like a whip, "You remember that?! When you kicked me in the fucking face back in that warehouse?!"

Jack said nothing at first, the pain dulling his response. But as the men cursed at him Jack felt his eyes widen in shock, "No way..."

* * *

_"Well now. What's this then?"_

_"Why don't we just bring him back to the boss? If the kid was there, maybe he knows a bit about those freaky robots?"_

_"Dunno. You think the boss will like that? You know how he feels about people dragging pointless things into his office."_

_"You know kid, you have very weird eyes...you know that?"_

* * *

Everything came rushing back.

The Scrapyard, Jack and Arcee investigating something, his phone going off, and the two men confronting the teen. He remembered all of it. Their suits were the same as any other MECH goon but Jack could remember their voices. They were the same. The very same people who Jack had knocked out and left to be arrested in the Scrapyard.

Though, the hateful glares the boy was getting told him of a very...different outcome to their encounter.

"Aw, you remember us now? Good!"

Again, one of the men grabbed Jack and kicked him in the stomach, earning a painful gasp from the teen.

"It's because of you that we got tossed into a load of shit! We had a simple job and you screwed it up! Our boss just barely saved us from the slammer but worked us like dogs! Made us do the grunt work for weeks!" one of the men sneered, "You fucked us up! You hear me you little shit!?"

His anger fully unleashed upon the teen, one of the agents dropped Jack. But then, even after their small rant, the two men laughed.

"But when we heard that the Spider-bitch was going to come torment you, we couldn't resist paying you a little visit." he chuckled, "I mean, when else are we going to get another chance like this? That machine's likely going to rip you to pieces later, but for now?"

Still standing over Jack, the pair began cracking their knuckles with glee.

"We get to have our payback."

Before Jack could even get a word out, the duo attacked. Like a pair of thugs they were on him in an instant.

Pain erupted as the men attacked. Jack covered himself, making some attempt to defend against the onslaught. But, nothing helped. Even without weapons, the pair did what they could to make their assault as painful as possible. Kicks to the stomach, punches across the face, cracking his skull against the knees, they did it all. The only way it could have been worse was if the men actually did use their weapons. Though, that even began to look questionable.

Such brutality only came to an end once one of the men tossed Jack to the ground.

It was a painful collision. Jack's face hit first, smacking against the ground with a painful smack. His whole body followed suit as well and collapsed across the pavement.

Yet still, even after all the pain he had been through, Jack tried to stand. The teen tried to push himself up, to get back on his feet. It was an agonizing attempt but the teen tried none the less.

"Aw, look at this." an agent mused, "What a trooper..."

As Jack rose from the ground, a sudden boot crashed against onto his back. The leather boot stomped down and forced Jack to the ground. It was like a sender-block had fallen on him, pinning him to the ground. Jack could barely move, his movements reduced to a squirm while the agents looked on and laughed.

"Ah, this is great!" one of the pair laughed, "Even after all the shit we went through, this makes it all worth it!"

The man's partner chuckled and stomped on Jack yet again, "Hell yeah it was!"

"Why don't we take this little shit along?" one of the men chuckled, "Let him have a front row seat while the bitch takes a nose dive?"

Silence suddenly struck Jack. He stopped squirming, even with the man's boot digging into his back. All Jack could focus on was their words, the threats they spewed.

The man's comrade sent him a worried look, "Hey, seriously?"

"Yeah! Why not?!" he chuckled, "This little fuck screwed us over back at our last job! We deserve some payback, don't we? We got put on guard duty because of him. And what's better than making him watch?"

"The bitch is going to die anyway, so let's have the whole family go at the same time!"

His tone, so cheerful, struck like daggers into Jack's chest.

Ignoring the pain, Jack twisted around and glared up at his tormentors. His eyes flashed red, burning like the fire within his chest. All the pain felt like noting at that moment. The beating he had endured, the boot pressing against his spine, and even blood dripping from his mouth. Like glass, it all shattered into a million pieces. And among those pieces was something, burning behind Jack's eyes.

Something old and very angry.

One of the agents chuckled, "Aw, don't give me that look! You know this little shit deserves i-"

The next few seconds happened in a flash.

Before either the men could utter another word, Jack struck. One of the men, the agent standing on the teen came tumbling to the ground, landing face first next to Jack. What happened was nearly instantaneous. Jack flipped onto his side and pushed through the pain of the man's boot scraping against his back. Once past it though, Jack gripped the man's leg and yanked him down with strength he didn't know he had.

It was sudden, and gave neither man the chance to respond before it had already happened.

Jack wasn't done though. With his back now free, Jack glared at the man in question. The agent himself landed just a foot or two next to Jack, dazed and still confused. Rage burning in his eyes, Jack did not relinquish his hold on the man's leg. The same leg that had been crushing him like a bug just seconds prior.

Leg in hand, Jack sent the man a burning glare...and snapped it, delivering one hell of a kick to the man's knee.

The force of the kick and the angle caused a painful snap. Like twigs breaking. If one listened close enough, they might have even heard the muscles snapping along with the bones. The pain alone caused the man to scream a horrid yell. He clutched his shattered limb, screaming curses left and right as his partner watched on.

Said man blinked, "You-!"

Turning on his heel, Jack watched as the agent's partner rushed him, ready to beat the hell out of him. But before the man could reach him, Jack was already on his feet. He snapped forward and leaped at the man, tackling him in the chest. The force of the collision nearly instantly knocked the air out of the goon, as if Jack was a cannonball ripping through his chest.

Like bricks, both Jack and the agent quickly fell to the ground. But as the henchmen hit the ground first, Jack jumped on his chest and flinched his fist.

For the next minute or two, Jack simply wailed on the dazed man. His fist cracked against the man's face, shattering his goggles while bloodying up his mask. It was like a frenzy, a rage filled beat down. Jack even felt his own hand begin to hurt yet still continued on. It was a painful few minutes, one that barely even gave the agent a second to breath.

Finally, after a minute or two of the painful assault, Jack began to calm down. Though, this was only after a loud crack sounded from the agent's nose.

As Jack leaned back on his attack, the goon reached up and grabbed his face, "Agh...fuck!"

Blood dripped from the man's face. Even with his mask covering up the skin beneath, one could see the carnage Jack had unleashed. If the man thought what Jack had done to him back at the Scrapyard was bad, then he had a very bad definition of pain.

"You little-! First my chin and now my nose!?" he cursed, "I'm going to beat the living shit outta-"

Another punch slammed into the man's face, silencing him, "Shut up!"

Jack reached forward and snatched the man by the scruff of his shirt. Scowling, the teen lifted the man up and stared directly into his eyes. Such hate flowed between the pair, all the rage that had been building up through the night drilled directly in the man's skull, "Where is she!?"

"W...what?..." the man muttered, dazed off his rocker.

Still scowling, Jack punched the man again, "My Mom! Where is she!?"

"He...heh, ha!" the man muttered, chuckling despite his pain, "Why...should I tell you shit?"

Jack saw red. Jack saw red. Without an inch of hesitation, he lifted the man up and threw him back to the ground. The impact was painful, with the man's head cracking against the pavement like a basketball. Yet even while pain erupted, Jack forcefully pulled the agent back up and snarled.

"You tell me or I'll keep beating you till your NECK snaps!" he growled, "Now, where is she!?"

The agent flinched, struck cold by the look in Jack's eyes. It was worse, far worse than the eyes he had back at the warehouse. Back when they first met the teen, feat had been in his eyes. He was afraid, unsure of how to react to the two men. But now? Oh, he was different. Angry, furious, and willing to do what it took to get what he needed.

Even if it meant going the extra mile.

So while barely hanging on, the man lifted one of his arms and pointed off to the side, "T...there."

Jack glanced off to the side, following the man's gesture, "She...told us she was stashed...that way..."

"We don't know...where exactly. We were just going to follow her, encase she was going to double cross us..." he muttered, "I...I...thats all I know!"

Despite the info given Jack snapped down at the man, "THATS I-"

The man flinched and clinched his eyes shut. He waited, silently expecting the boy to slam him down once again. Seconds passed however, and nothing happened. Nothing at all.

Caution at the ready, the man looked up. There, he saw Jack. But instead of seeing the raging teen from just a minute prior, all he saw was a stunned boy. The rage in Jack's eyes had dimmed, replaced by shock and bewilderment. But along with this stunned silence, the man also heard a light beeping.

The beeping, from a watch.

Yet while the man was confused, Jack found a shocking realization strike him.

Slowly, Jack raised one of his arms and looked down. His eyes, orbs that had been filled with such rage slowly settled on the black watch attached to his arm. A chill ran up his spine as he noticed the watch, saw the letters that were being displayed. He read the words, the numbers and found his voice grow dim.

His watch read midnight, the beeping echoing in turn.

Time was up.

Jack gasped and dropped the man, letting him fall back onto his head, "No..."

With the man falling flat on his face, Jack ran. Out of the ambush, into the open street, and down the path he had been shown. His adrenalin was in full swing, filling Jack with as much speed as his worn body could grant him.

Yet even as he ran, Jack bit his lip.

* * *

_"If you find her before the clock strikes twelve, I'll let you both go~"_

_"What'll happen? Hm...what do you think?"_

* * *

Furiously, Jack shook his head, "No, no, no, no!"

As he turned a corner, Jack felt like punching himself. How could he of wasted so much time? Jack had a watch, he knew how much time he had and yet he had wasted it. The time he spent beating on those two and he could of been spending it searching. But now, time was up. Time was up and his mother would-

"NO!" he snapped.

Jack bit his tongue and pushed on. There was still time. He could still find her and save her! Jack knew he could! He had to!

Through the factory, through the streets, Jack continued to run. His eyes moving as fast as they could, Jack scanned every little detail he could find. Atop buildings, in alleys, sitting in the middle of any clearings of parking lots. Wherever his mother could of been, Jack looked with alarming speed.

As he ran, Jack suddenly came to a stop. His eyes caught something.

Not far off in the distance was an unfinished building. Construction equipment sat all around it, from a case of already poured cement to even a few girders. All of it pointed to the building being unfinished, not yet complete. The surroundings did not interest Jack though. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the very top of the building, which seemed to be the most unfinished of the entire thing.

Yet at the very top, Jack saw a figure. A woman tied up in a cocoon of webbing. Someone in a green nurse's outfit.

"MOM!" he cried.

Not a second to spare, Jack snapped in the direction of the building and booked it. He pushed himself faster, a familiar warmth filling his legs. June was so close that Jack could practically reach out and touch her. She was still there, still safe! He still had a chance!

With new speed, Jack quickly reached the building in no-time. The teen even skidded to a halt, stopping just a few feet away from the structure.

But once there, Jack looked up at this mother and called out to her, "Mom!?"

The woman said nothing. Just by a mere glance Jack could tell that she was still out of it. Likely having been knocked unconscious by the MECH agents that had captured her. The bastards couldn't have been kind, he could tell. But regardless, Jack could still see her breathing. Airachnid hadn't made good on her promise just yet.

"Alright...alright, think!" Jack muttered, "I gotta get up there! Has to be...something! A ladder, some stairs...something!"

While June hung precariously from the building's topmost point, Jack frantically began searching for a way to reach her. Something had to be there, it was a construction site after all. They couldn't have made it so it was impossible for someone to at least get up there! Jack knew there had to be, anything before-

"Well, I'll give you this much..." a sudden, silky voice spoke, stopping Jack in his tracks, "You are quite the runner, you know that?"

His eyes going wide, Jack slowly looked up toward the roof. There, a second figure had appeared. It was much larger than June, and leaned over the rooftop like a giant. But how it glowed purple instantly told Jack who it was. Especially when she slowly moved out of the shadows, revealing her disgustingly purple optics for all to see.

"But..." Airachnid mused, "I'm afraid you're..."

"Too late."

Jack watched, his feet bolted to the ground. With the boy unable to do a thing, Airachnid leaned forward and flicked one of her claws out. Such digits were sharp, more like blades than actual fingers. Then like its namesake, she carefully positioned it right under the threat holding June up, like a knife preparing to slice through a rope. A horrified choke escaped Jack, his red eyes forced to witness every second as her claw inched ever closer to the thread.

If that wasn't enough though, June finally stirred awake at the exact same moment.

"W...what?" June muttered tiredly, "Whats...what's going on..."

"MOM!"

The sudden scream slapped June like a loud alarm clock. Like a bucket of water falling on head, June snapped awake. Almost instantly though, the woman clenched her eyes shut. Right out of the gate June felt her head split open with a headache. Everything was blurry, painful, and like someone had smacked her upside the head with a rock.

But when June tried to rub her forehead, she strangely couldn't move her arm. In fact, neither of her arms nor her legs. June couldn't move anything actually, nothing aside her neck and head.

"Wha..." she blinked, confused.

June then looked down, where she saw her son...and instantly froze. Below June was a painfully long drop to the ground off some partly constructed building. Several beams, girders, and metal pipes were scattered around her. She also noticed strange webbing wrapping around her chest, explaining her lack of movement. Though of all the things June noticed, she gulped at what was holding her up.

A tiny strand of webbing. One that looked about ready to snap.

She reacted as such.

"THE HELL?!" she yelled, "Wha-what...why am I-where am I..."

The poor woman felt utterly overwhelmed. Her head was just spinning in confusion. Where was she? How had she got there? The last thing she remembered was a pair of men ambushing her in the hospital parking lot. They had guns, said something very stupid, and then boom, everything went dark. But now? June woke up hanging atop an unfinished building with her son at the bottom and-

"Wha...WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?"

And, a giant mechanical monster standing right beside her. So to say that she was confused would be an understatement.

Airachnid didn't seem to mind being called a 'thing' though. In fact, she laughed, "Aw, isn't that precious. Now you two can have a final moment together too!"

Jack took a step forward and screamed, "Wait! I'm here! I beat your deadline!"

Regardless of the monstrous amount of confusion June had, the femme laughed again, "Oh, maybe. But If I recall, you were a few seconds late. And besides, I told you to 'rescue' your mother too..."

Her claw still hanging right under the thread that held June up, Airachnid's slowly began to tear through webbing yet again. It was an easy task, her claw being far big enough to do the deed with one strike. Yet still, Airachnid couldn't resist milking the moment. She even took glee in hearing June yelp as she bobbed in the air due to her swiftly shrinking support.

But out of everything, Airachnid smiled down at Jack, "And...guess what?"

"You failed."

With a final flick of her claw and a horrified expression on Jack's face, Airachnid sliced through the thread.

Things quickly began to slow down. Jack gasped and screamed at the top of his lungs. Airachnid merely laughed like the insane-bot she was. But June? She didn't even know what happened at first. Things were just so confusing. Yet with the sound of her son's scream and Airachnid's laughter, the truth quickly came to a screeching halt.

She was falling...

Fear gripped June as weightlessness took hold. Gravity took control as the woman fell, the air rushing past her as she came tumbling towards the ground. Even looking at the ground itself was terrifying, like watching as death swiftly waited for your arrival. So instead of staring at it or even watching the world fly by as she fell, June clenched her eyes shut and braced herself for impact.

Darkness was preferable to seeing the last few moments of her life flash before her eyes.

The last thing June saw while falling though were two things. The ground quickly approaching and the terrified look on her son's face, the moment he saw her fall.

His eyes were filled with such fear, such pain. Jack reached out as June inched closer to the ground. He was powerless, unable to do a thing while his mother fell. There was nothing he could do, nothing at all. All his running, all his silent prayers. None of it had helped. He was powerless, useless.

Jack had failed, proving himself to be the disappointment he had constantly driven his mother to feel.

And now, June as going to-

_"NO!"_

Before June hit the ground. She flinched. A sudden pressure snapped around her waist and strange enough? She stopped.

Without a warning of any kind, June just stopped. She felt the world become still. The wind became still, no longer rushing by her face. The weightlessness came to a halt while something grabbed June around the chest. It was large, like fingers. She couldn't feel what it was through the webbing, but June felt a strange...warmth around her body.

Confusion building, June opened her eyes and began looking around, "W-what?!"

"You okay?"

A sudden voice snapped June out of her fright. With her confusion put on hold for a moment, June glanced down yet again.

She stopped, frozen in place.

Around June's chest and perhaps her entire body...was a hand. A massive blue hand. Fingers that easily surpassed her arms in length and width and a palm that looked bigger than June's entire torso. The entire thing was large enough to crush June, and yet it gently held her safely off the ground. Strangely though, the hand's size wasn't just big. Along with being massive, the 'hand' glowed a phantom-like color.

The limb as a strange Blue tint, somewhat translucent, and even glowed with a strange fire that swirled just inches away from June's face. Even stranger though, the fire wasn't hot. Despite being just inches away from June's face, she felt no burning heat. From a merely touching June could even swear that the fire was cool, like wind!

Oh, and the limb was entirely skeletal. The hand that had saved June from a painful splat was entirely made of bones. No muscles, skin, or blood of any kind. Nothing even kept the bones together aside from its strange nature. It was like someone had taken the bones from a giant and saved June with them.

It wasn't just the hand though. An entire arm ripped right from a skeleton held June in the air. The humerus, scapula, ulna, and radius, everything that made up a human's arm was there. June recognized each bone and found herself growing more and more confused by each passing second.

'The...the hell is this!?' she screamed to herself.

But, June's shock didn't end there. As she followed the limb downward, June nearly fainted at what she saw at the very end of the construct.

"...Jack!?"

Standing on the ground, just below where June hung was her son. Jack stood calmly on the ground, his hands hanging at his side.

Surrounding the boy though, was a fire. A massive, blue fire. The same kind of fire that also encompassed the very boney limb that held June safely off the ground. None of it looked to be burning him though. Jack didn't even seem to notice. It was as if he was the very core of the flame, standing at its center like the fuel for a bonfire.

Speaking of which, Jack's entire body was surrounded by more than fire. As an arm had saved June from her fall, an entire ribcage had appeared around her son. The same bones, the same glow, and the very same fire. Everything swirled around Jack and formed a massive torso around him as if he was the heart itself.

What was stranger though, was that the bones were still forming.

"I said, are you alright?" Jack asked again, sparing his mother a look.

The teen's tone was cold and hard, unlike anything June was used to. It was angry, but not at her. His hatred flew right past June, ignoring her completely.

"Y...yeah, I'm...fine." June muttered, "Jack...what's going on?!"

Her questions aside, June was met with a surprising silence. Her son merely stood by and sighed, "Good."

Before June could question him again, the phantom arm slowly began to move. It lowered both itself and June to the ground next to her son. From there, it gently released her, setting June comfortingly on the ground before rising back into the air. The massive hand just left her on the ground, forcing June to stare up in shock.

Both literally and figuratively.

June had to stare up at the construct. The skeleton was MASSIVE. Even with just the arm and the ribcage, June had to pan upward to see just all of it. It towered over both her and her son like her tormenter had. The construct might have even been bigger than demented femme. While Airachnid was slender and sleek, the skeleton was massive and imposing.

"Jack...?" June muttered.

At the center of the construct, Jack clenched his fists.

"I...don't know..." he hissed.

He clenched his eyes shut and bit his lip. Agonizing pain tore through the teen's body. Blood dripped down his cheeks like tears and his body trembled. The pain Jack was feeling couldn't be put into words. Every single inch of his body felt as if it was on fire. His bones, skin, and even Jack's cells seemed to be tearing themselves apart. The teen could barely even keep himself from crying out in pain.

"But...I...do know something."

From what had been a mere ribcage and a single arm, an entire skeleton began to form. Ribs grew more numerous and climbed atop each other, enlarging the ribcage. A spine formed behind Jack, lining up between the gaps in the ribs right up until a neck formed. Shoulders, supports, and even another arm took shape.

While Jack glared up at where his mother had been suspended, an entire upper body of a skeleton formed around him.

A colossal monster of glowing, blue bones just formed up around the teen, its movements matching his own. As Jack breathed, the skeleton shuttered. As his hands tightened, its knuckles cracked. And as his form trembled, the bones almost rattled in reaction to his rage.

Of all the pieces to form however, the last was the skull.

Forming atop the spinal column, a massive skull took shape. It was at least as big as a Cybertronian's head, maybe even twice that. Of its features, two empty eye sockets stood at the center of the skull along with two full rows of teeth. Two massive canines adorned the bottom row while two gigantic tusks grew from the jaw itself, sprouting from its chin.

The entire construct looked savage, like a beast waiting to be unleashed.

As the construct finally completed itself, Jack snapped his eyes open, and glared up at the femme.

June gasped and covered her mouth.

Jack's eyes had changed. His natural blue eyes had vanished and instead their strange red counterpart had appeared. Yet still, even they had changed. The odd formation around Jack's pupil had evolved into something more refined, detailed. They were almost completely different from what his eyes had once been. Even the tomes had grown larger and connected to one-another, forming an odd circle near the center of his eyes. But along with such a change came a painful sensation.

With the rest of his body, the teen's eyes trembled in pain while blood ran down his cheeks. It was like tears, spilling from the boy's eyes.

"Airachnid..."

In the boy's voice, there was one thing that pushed passed the pain. A single, raging emotion. It tore through the air and aimed squarely at the demented femme that had attacked June. It was more than simply pain. It was more than mere anger. No, this? This was far more...

Motivating.

"After what you tried..." he hissed, his voice trembling.

Life exploded through the massive skeleton. Its eye sockets lit up, a thunderous 'thump' echoing within the construct's head. Movement roared through the creature. No longer did it just stand there like a limp. Rage, seething and violent, ran through it like blood in someone's veins. Cracks sounded as the skeleton clenched its fists. It let loose a wild roar and turned its eyes upward, growling as it did.

Just as Jack had.

With the skeleton swirling round him, Jack turned his bloodied eyes skyward. They met with Airachnid's, blood red orbs striking at her sadistic optics.

_"...you're DEAD!"_

* * *

**_AN:_**

_Well, not as long as the last one was it? Still, craziness is about to be unleashed! We're going off the rails from her on people! From here on stuffs going to get real! Well, as real as what's going to happen now that Jack has gone raging berserk. What will happen though? You'll have to wait and see!_

_Also had to split this one up into two, as those familiar with the episode is aware of. Though just for a warning, next chapter will have quite a bit of new stuff, kinda like a lead into where this story is going to go from here._

_If you got any questions about the story and such, you know the drill. Include your question in a PM or leave it in the review. Though as I've mentioned before, don't expect me to answer anything if you don't have an account for me to reply to. These chapters are long enough with me including a guest's question and spoilers aren't going to be shared outside a personal message form me._

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._


	7. Rage of the Eyes, Bones of Flames

Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, Viz Media, and Shonen Jump.  
Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro.

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._

* * *

_Chapter: Rage of the Eyes, Bones of Flames.  
_

* * *

_"Thats it?"_

_Jack shrugged. He and his friends sat, alone within the Autobot's command center. The owners of the base were gone, doing duties or something of another. Many were recovering from a fairly recent mission, one which included rescuing a Decepitcon from a familiar group of terrorists. But with their absence, Miko and Raf took the moment to ask Jack something that had been far overdue.  
_

_The answer they got though, was not what they had been expecting._

_"Yeah," he replied, "Thats it. Sorry to disappoint you."_

_Raf and Miko blinked, nearly collapsing back against the couch they were sitting on. Jack sat at the side, occupying a nearby chair by himself. But upon hearing the boy's response to their question, the teens looked at him with both confusion and frustration.  
_

_"But that can't be it! You have to have some idea about what they are!?" Raf asked, holding most of the confusion the pair had.  
_

_Miko however, was a bit more frustrated, "Yeah! Those eyes of yours are awesome! How can you have no idea! Thats lame! Super lame!"_

_Jack gave Miko a look, "Well, what do you want me to say? I. Don't. Know. Okay?"  
_

_The two teens were silent. Slowly, Jack grumbled to himself and leaned back. He rubbed his face tiredly while the others looked on. One look at the two teens told him that they weren't going to drop the subject so easily. Miko especially. The girl could hold onto something for weeks if she had to. As such, Jack rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling._

_"I just..." he sighed, "I don't remember when they started doing this, alright?" "_

_It happened when I was really young, change whenever I get...upset, and sometimes makes my eyes hurt like I get sand tossed in my face." he told the pair, "Really, whenever my eyes change, all I know is that..."_

* * *

_"...you're DEAD!"  
_

Jasper, as small as it was, shook unnaturally. The scream, soaked with rage, echoed through the city. To the neighborhoods, the busiest streets, and even the outskirts of the city. All shock underneath the rage of such a roar. The worst that suffered was the abandoned, empty portion of the town. The industrialized section, made for storage and construction. Warehouses were seen in every direction, filling the area to the brim with empty, lifeless buildings. The pavement was cold with disuse, the entire section of Jasper being empty and used for storage.

Such was the perfect place for death, a location to snuff out the life of a family that no one would even miss.

Despite such a plan though, the roar crackled against the air. No despair could be found in Jack's voice, not a hint of fear or regret. A single, dominating force took hold of the boy's voice, a spine chilling rage. His eyes sat dominated with such hatred, transformed by it even.

Instead of the calm blue eyes that Jack had been born with, he stared hatefully with two red orbs. Blood red with anger, pupils sat encircled by three large tomoes with circles at their tops overlapping each other at the bottom. They were like a three sided pinwheel turned on each other, spinning with fire fueling their movement.

One each side of the teen, someone stood on and watched in shock. On one, his mother and the other, Airachnid.

Partially at Jack, and also at the abomination that floated above him. The Golem of bones, the floating sentient skeleton. It was massive, made of glowing translucent bones. It stood as tall or maybe just a bit taller than Airachnid. But what it lacked in size, it made up for with proportion and massive. Its hands were gigantic, easily able to crush a human while its head could bite off a Cybertronain's like a grape.

Along with the flames that constantly surrounded it, the creature stood imposingly among the empty lot, with Jack at its center.

_'What...is this?!'_

Jack, his rage ignited, shot forward and charged Airachnid. His body screamed in pain, even the faintest trace of movement kicking up the worst pain one could imagine. Regardless, he ran toward the building with his eyes glowing bright red. And with him, the massive construct of bones moved as well. It floated behind him, almost mimicking the teen as he charged.

It screamed, roared, its voice echoing into the distance like a furious beast.

The behemoth launched itself at the building June had been dangling off of and tore into it. Its massive skeletal fists exploded against the unfinished mess and began to tear it apart. The supports, metal or otherwise trembled under the weight of the monster. One punch easily tore a hole in the building and every after did even more.

Like a tumbling house of cards, the building began to tremble as it fell. Airachnid flinched and staggered back, her footing becoming undone as the damage progressed. Parts of the structure began falling to the ground as the Skeleton attacked, the supports unable to keep them suspended any longer.

Of the pieces, a large metal girder fell from the building and bounced off the back of Jack's construct. It did nothing to the Skeleton itself, not even heavy enough to gain its attention.

But as it flew into the air, a woman looked up and blinked.

June sat several yards away, still wrapped up in Airachnid's webbing. After being saved from her painful fall, Jack left his mother sitting just a fair distance away, safe from what he was about to unleash. June herself didn't object, or at least wasn't able to. She was just too shocked, dumbfounded with what she was watching.

But as June watched her son as he began to tear down Airachnid's perch, a slight shadow caught her attention.

Looking up, June blinked when she saw the beam, a random girder flying through the air. It tumbled through the sky, bent from the collision it had made with Jack's construct. But as it flew through the air, the beam began to fall back to the ground.

Which just so happened to be where June was siting.

"Oh...shit." she muttered, her eyes going wide.

Quickly, June tried to sit herself up. But as she tried, June just as quickly fell back to the ground. Once her behind hit the ground, June let out a curse and glared at the webbing around her chest. It was light the toughest rope, making it nearly impossible for anyone to break free. June couldn't even press her hand through the material, it was that thick.

"Oh, come on!" she hissed, "You're worse than my hair half of the time-!"

Still struggling, June froze. Silently, a shadow loomed overhead. Despite her better judgement, the woman turned from her restraints, and looked to the sky.

The girder fell from the sky, about to crush her flatter than a pancake.

"OH GOD!"

Amongst the destruction, Jack stopped dead in his tracks. The boy's ears burned hot, as did his eyes. With not a word, he turned around and narrowed his eyes. The massive Skeleton sudden turned on the spot and smacked the metal beam out of the sky. To the monster's massive, boney arm, the beam was but a fly.

One that had grown far too close to his mother to be comfortable with.

June, mouth wide with shock, just sat in silence. She watched the massive Skeleton literally flick the girder through the air. It crashed into a building in the distance and fell through its roof with a loud crack. The action seemed almost effortless and June had little words that could describe the scene itself. So instead, she turned and looked to her side, and the massive Skeleton that was her savor.

Through the flames and the bones, she saw him. At the very center of the construct of bones, flames and fire, June saw her son. Jack stood at the heart of the beast, literally in the middle of many, many ribs. Each were at least as tall as he was, and all were similar to a humans. As June saw her son through, he saw her.

Jack turned and looked his mother dead in the eyes. Their gazes met for but a moment, a few seconds at the most. In such a short time, June felt a shudder crawl down her spine.

The eyes Jack held weren't the blue he had been born with. These eyes were red, la deep burning crimson.

But more was there, just flickering behind such eyes. But as June silently took it all in, Jack and his monster attacked once more. In silence, the woman watched as her son tore through the building, literally given his monster's size. Atop the structure, Airachnid nearly lost her footing yet again, the very roof buckling as the number of its supports grew even thinner.

At any moment, it would fall, like a crumbling house of cards.

Off to the side, June fell to her knees, a cold sweat dripping down her neck, "Oh god..."

Her head felt faint, weightless and heavy all at the same time. So much had happened, so much she couldn't take. Her son's story was right, giant robots and everything. One was now trying to kill them, and Jack was fighting it with some strange creature floating around his body...

Her little boy. June shivered, the things she had seen in his eyes.

_'Jack...'_ she muttered, watching the boy as the Skeleton ripped a girder from the building's side, _'Whats happening...?'_

Piece by piece, the unfinished building slowly began to shake. The Skeleton's massive hands took the structure apart, both in pieces and in scrapes. It ripped girders from the supports, sheets from the walls, and even bend the very piles that held the site together. Each piece taken and tossed away, the building shook even more.

But like all things, the building could not support such destruction. As Jack tore one of its final supports from the site's base, it finally happened. The building, as stable as it was, collapsed upon itself.

An avalanche was what it was. Beams of steel, girders of iron, pipes of led. Every piece of debris that had made up the building came crashing down in a giant pile of wreckage. Airachnid leaped off the building just in time, rolling off to the side as things came crashing down. Jack was less fortunate, having stood at its center however.

June screamed, gasping as the metal rained down from overhead. Steel, pipes, girders, and sheets of copper all slammed down upon Jack and his monster. The Skeleton, as massive as it was, couldn't withstand such a weight. In a flicker of movement, it wrapped its arms around itself and Jack, shielding him as the metal tsunami swallowed the pair hole. From where there had once been a half finished building, now stood not but a pile of wreckage, the smoke from its collapse billowing into the night shy.

Struck with despair, June fell to her knees and trembled.

At first, she couldn't believe it. Instead of frantically calling out for the boy, June sat in silence. She watched, gazing at the wreckage, hoping for a slight sign of her son. A hand popping up out of the wreckage, a small sheet of metal being pushed aside. She would have even settled for a groan, anything to tell her he was okay.

But after nothing but silence for a moment or two, tears began to seep out of the corners of her eyes.

"No..." June whimpered, "No...please god..."

Off to the side, Airachnid merely watched. She was cautious, ready to move at the drop of a dime in case something emerged from the wreckage. But as she watched, Airachnid couldn't quite ignore her curiosity either. She had seem quite a number of things in her life, especially during her time away from the war. But what her prey had done that very night?

Whatever it was, that creature was surely worthy to be something she could mount on her wall.

The femme let out a soft chuckle, "Well, it had been...at least."

As nothing emerged from the pile of rubble, Airachnid turned around and glanced at June. The poor woman was distraught, barely even aware of the world around her.

"Well, at least I can still-" she mused with a grin.

Just as Airachnid set her twisted optics on June once more, a massive arm slammed into her. An explosion shook the wreckage, sending pieces and debris flying as something emerged. June yelped as the explosion shook the ground, almost knocking the poor woman flat on her back. Airachnid though, had little time for surprise.

After all, her attention was stuck a massive, boney arm that came flying out of the wreckage, clotheslining the former Con right off her feet.

Out from the smoking wreckage, Jack and the behemoth of bones erupted from the pile of wreckage. Their return tore the remains apart, sending numerous pieces flying through the air as they rushed forward. Beams, pipes, and girders all crashed were tossed to the sky before plummeting to the ground below. June screeched and flinched, scared out of her wits as the pieces crashed into the surrounding area.

Thankfully, no girder found it amusing to attack the woman yet again.

Airachnid wasn't as lucky. From the carnage, Jack and the massive Skeleton launched themselves at Airachnid and tore into her. It knocked her down with a sudden tackle, punched her in the frame with one of its arms, and then grabbed the former Con by her very helm. The colossus pulled Airachnid from the ground and hoisted the femme into the air, watching as she struggled for her freedom.

The sadistic spider tore and scraped her claws against the monster's limb, going even so far to pry the bones themselves apart. No matter what she did though, the limb did not budge. Jack clenched his teeth together. As the teen did the same, the construct of bones swung its arm down and plunged the femme into the ground, pressing her helm into the pavement itself.

But he did not stop there. Oh no. Jack didn't let the femme off that easily.

Her face squarely against the cold pavement, Jack took one look at Airachnid and began to run. It was slow at first, like a slight jog. But with a steady pace, Jack ran faster, and faster. And all the while he ran, his Skeleton slowly hovered behind him, dragging Airachnid all the way.

Back with June, the woman flinched as she watched. The ground shook, trembling as the femme skidded across the ground. Sparks flickered up from her helm, and the Spider did a horrid bounce every time she smacked against something solid, like a rock or piece of debris. Remarkably though, what shocked June the most was not the Spider's suffering, but the look on her son's face. He didn't look just angry, he was beyond that, so far beyond that his mother couldn't find a word to describe it.

That aside though, June winced when Airachnid bounced off another chunk of rock

Oh, June hated the Spider. If by just fear of creepy crawlies alone, she hated it. And after all it had done to both her and her son? She despised. But by god, Airachnid's face was starting to resemble a muffler as it was being dragged underneath the back end of an old pickup truck!

If not for the webbing binding her arms, June would have touched her own face.

"That..." she muttered, "Has got to hurt..."

Finally after nearly a minute of torture, Jack ripped Airachnid up from the ground. She felt limp in his construct's hand, stunned from the painful experience.

Jack glared at the Spider, feeling an unfamiliar rage boil in his veins. He felt so much hate by just looking at her. The hell she had put Arcee through, the trap she had laid for his mother, and now the two times she had tried to kill Jack. Each thought made a memory flow through the teen, burning him up from the inside.

The teen tossed the femme up into the air and casually punched her, sending the Con flying like a baseball. he sailed, flying across the landscape without a care in the world. Where she landed though, was another warehouse, this time crashing through the roof before landing amongst a pile of boxes and crates.

"Ugh..." Airachnid muttered, hissing to herself.

From within the warehouse, the Spider stirred. She forced herself onto her feet, brushing off any and all debris that had fallen atop her. But as the former Con stood, Airachnid hissed and touched her face. Orange, burning metal maimed her helm, both heated to the point of glowing and now scratched to the pit and back. Airachnid felt the heat radiating off her helm and clenched a servo.

_'That is it! No more games!'_ she hissed to herself, _'He likes fire!? Well, I'll give him fire! I'll...I'll-!'_

_"AIRACHNID!"_

Snapping her head up, Airachnid witnessed one of the building's walls suddenly cave inward. From the outside in, Jack and his monstrosity ripped their way into the structure and howled at the femme. The colossal Skeleton punched its way inside, its fists smashing through the walls without stopping. Jack glared furiously at Airachnid and leaped through the hole his monster had created, vaulting over metal and stone before running at the femme herself.

Taken by surprise once more, Airachnid snapped to her feet and hissed at the teen, rage dancing in her optics. She refused to be manhandled again. So as Jack lunged at her, Airachnid used her legs as a springboard and shot up into the air. Their combined force sent the femme skyrocketing through the air, up and through the very roof of the building itself.

Once airborne though, Airachnid hatefully glared down at where she had emerged from. Through the hole in the roof, she could still see the glowing form of Jack's construct.

Snarling, the Decepticon used the blasters in her arms and rained down fire upon the building. Bolts of energy collided with the roof in an instant, pelting it with numerous explosions that tore through the surface apart. Once the roof was gone through, the blasts tore into the inside of the structure, including what the warehouse had been containing.

Jack and his guardian covered themselves as energy bolts rained down from above. They bounced and exploded off the skeleton's hide, barely even denting it. Besides the two though, the contents of the warehouse were not as lucky. Crates and barrels were deviated by the assault, with the latter actually exploding once hit with one of the blasts of energy.

One barrel exploding wasn't the end of it. With one, came another. With two came four, and with four came eight. The numbers just continued to rise until they were uncountable. Every individual explosion soon became one gigantic detonation, one that swept over the entirety of the building, and Jack as he turned around.

From the outside, the gigantic warehouse exploded. Windows were consumed, shattering with the explosion. Flames tore through what remained of the roof like tissue paper, and the massive, metal doors were blown off in a thunderous bang.

June gasped as the wave of heat struck her, nearly knocking her on her side. But as she sat up, June looked on in horror as the building burned.

Airachnid landed just seconds later, crouching as the pavement cracked underneath her. She slowly stood and watched curiously as the fire burned. The building crackled, crumbled, and fell to the ground in a pile of ash and debris, rendered unstable after the explosion. She waited, watching in case something emerged. Yet, nothing happened. The fire continued to burn, and after a few seconds, she laughed.

She laughed, hard.

"That," she chuckled, "Was for my ship."

With Jack surely burning alive, Airachnid turned her optics towards June and grinned, "Now..."

Gleeful agony flashing through her optics, Airachnid turned to face the defenseless woman. The moment she turned her optics from the smoke however, something emerged. A massive blue blur exploded forth from the wreckage and smacked against Airachnid. The blue, a massive skeletal fist, tore into the femme's left side. It tore her armor to bits and horribly bent her arm, resulting in it flailing limply as she was knocked off her treads.

June gasped as Airachnid came crashing down, her eyes wide as the femme slammed off to the side.

Airachnid came crashing down to the ground, shattering the pavement underneath. Once she regained her bearings though, the femme shot to her feet and glanced at her side.

Her entire left portion of Spider's frame, aside from her leg was in ruins Her chest-plate had been bent to all hell, crackled and dented while her arm sat twisted to the side. Energon leaked all around, especially from the wounded limb. It was like a pretzel, bent in a way that could make someone question how it was even hanging on still.

"You brat..." she hissed, glaring her optics at the cloud of smoke.

The colossal boney limb, glowing from its ever present blue flames, cut through the cloud of ash. From it, Jack emerged from the ruined building. He and his massive, spectral guardian sat unharmed in the middle of the wreckage. A small sum of flames clung pointlessly to the behemoth's bones, sitting their pointlessly as the marched through the destruction.

The duo pressed forward at a slow pace, each slowly pushing through the flames without a care. They were like demons, emerging from the pit itself.

"I won't let you, not again. Not one finger..." he swore, rage flashing through his eyes the second she even glanced at his mother.

But while Jack walked, his pace slowed to a slight limp.

He was tired, almost mind numbingly so. The pain wasn't even agonizing anymore, more like a dull pain encompassing every inch of his body. Collapsing in pain didn't even seem all that bad, almost a relief actually. His eyes in particular were horrible, like two boiling coals stuck in his eye-sockets.

What pushed the boy forward though, wasn't pain. His eyes told of much more. They were the windows of the soul, and Jack's told of a burning fire. Kicking wildly, barely contained. Fire, rage, something that felt so unusual for one such as him. Past his pain, weariness, and exhaustion, an inferno of fury motivated his body.

Onward he walked, his rage stabbing at Airachnid like two flaming knives.

"You...wanted to hunt us...me...and my mom..." he hissed, his voice cracking, "Like some...dog..."

Jack grew closer, earning a hiss from the former Con. Clutching her broken arm, Airachnid's remaining limbs snapped to life. On her back, several long, thin legs sprang upward and surrounded their owner. Their tips were sharp, like spears. One clean stab and even one leg could cleanly slice through a Cybertronian's hide. All six legs rose from the ground, ready to snap at any given moment.

Her remaining arm began to glow. The blaster at the very center of her palm revved up, igniting with the intent to fire.

Jack clenched his eyes shut and felt as blood trickled down his face. Above him, the massive Skeleton balled up its fists. The flames that swirled around the monstrous construct flared, burning brighter than before. Its jaws gritted, cracking its massive glowing teeth. And at the very center of the beast, Jack began to twitch, his whole body trembling wildly. But it wasn't in pain. Far from it.

"But now..." he hissed, snapping his eyes open, "Let's see_ you_ how like it!"

One roar, and Jack charged. Airachnid snapped her arm up and shot at the massive skeleton, peppering it with blaster fire. Despite the bolts that struck its hide though, the behemoth continued without delay and charged at the femme. The numerous blasts bounced pointlessly off the monster's bones and once it reached her, the Skeleton threw a massive punch at the defenseless machine, something she just barely managed to dodge.

"Come on, stop running!" Jack demanded, his monster leaping at the femme again, "It's no fun if you just _run_!"

Such sarcasm stained Jack's tone, mocking the sadistic tone Airachnid constantly flaunted. He however, didn't stop there. As the femme leaped out of the way of a fist, another grabbed her out of the air. It wrapped itself around the femme's head and ripped her down from the sky, where it held her, silently squeezing on the Spider's helm.

Airachnid screeched as Jack squeezed. Regardless of her damage, the femme scratched and tore at the limp, doing anything to free herself from its grip. Some of her remaining limbs even joined in on the fun. But as shes struggled, the teen and his construct silently watched, observing her fruitless attempts.

Not matter how sharp Airachnid's claws were, they barely even scratched its bones. It was as if they were gnats, pointlessly poking at something they couldn't possibly hope to hurt.

Seeing this, Airachnid pulled out an old trick. Almost instinctively, she shot a wad of webbing directly at the construct's head.

The webbing smacked into the skull with a sickening splat. Within the span of a second, the entire skull was covered in the revolting substance, entirely encasing it in webbing without even an inch to move. Airachnid, frozen in place, laughed. She laughed hard, after everything, the fact that someone of her webbing had done the trick was almost hilarious.

In fact, she laughed even harder once the Construct stopped moving, as if it had been bound to the ground like her webbing had done so often before.

But as the femme laughed, a sight sent a chill running though her frame. Smoke began seeping up through her webbing as it sat on the construct's face. Its surface turned black as flames emerged from the sticky material. Blue, translucent flames slowly began to tear the webbing apart, the same material that could pin Cybertronians down as if they were sparklings...

...and it was burning, slowly reduced to ash in a manner of moments.

The ruined remains of the webbing fell to the ground in a burnt pile of ash. Without it, the massive Skeleton leaned forward and glared directly into the Spider's face. Its massive, glowing eyes dug into her optics, causing her to flinch back in shock. There were no life in its eyes. Instead, she saw a force of nature, as if staring into fire itself.

Frantically, the femme lifted her hands and blasted the Skeleton dead in the face. The explosion was enough to cause the behemoth to drop her, but not before it punching her square in the chest. It threw her back across the clearing, skidding across the pavement with her legs digging into the ground.

Silently, Airachnid stood. Both she and Jack stared at each other, silently watching from a distance. Neither moved, neither attacked, and neither spoke. But as the two watched each other, Jack twitched.

Many yards sat between both Jack and Airachnid, almost like an entire building sat between them. But even at such a length, his eyes caught something. For just a moment, Airachnid twitched. Her leg moved backwards. An inch or two, barely even noticeable. But the suddenness, the trembling...

Jack narrowed his eyes at the very sight of it.

"No..." he declared, his tone low and fierce, "You're not...not yet.."

**_"You're not going anywhere! Not until I'm done with you!"_**

* * *

_Elsewhere:_

* * *

"I want a status report, what is going on over there?"

"Unknown sir! We're on route now! Explosions visible in the distance! We'll reestablish contact once confirmation is assured!"

In the middle of a warehouse, set dead in the center of the most abandoned part of Jasper, a femme stirred. Many people were running through out a warehouse, scrambling in their military uniforms. But as they ran passed, none noticed.

Slowly, one of Arcee's optics flickered to life.

_'W...what...?'_ she muttered, _'What happened..?'_

Pain wracked the femme's form. She felt tired, exhausted, and every indicator of her frame flashed red with a warning. Even moving felt like a chore for Arcee, as if she hadn't had a scrap of Energon in weeks. Her memories were unstable as well, fractured along with the pain echoing in the back of the femme's helm.

What had happened? Why did everything hurt? And where was she-

"Very well, but hurry up! I want an explanation, now!" a sudden voice growled.

Blinking, Arcee slowly glanced to her side. There, in the distance she saw a man that sparked something within her. Silas, the man in charge of MECH stood just a few feet away. His expression was angered, furious even. Though just seeing him sparked an anger in Arcee as well, even if she couldn't move to act on it.

"Damn it." Silas hissed, "Get me some visual contact as well! I want to know what that spider is doing ASAP!"

With a snarl on his face, Silas turned off his radio and stomped off. As he left though, Arcee's optics snapped open.

The pain in her processor vanished, and with it her memories came rushing back. Her and Jack finding Silas' message, coming to save June, Airachnid arriving instead, and the sudden pain that had wracked her frame. And then, there was nothing. She remembered an over whelming pain, the darkness that followed, and the last being Jack screaming her name-

_'Jack!'_

With energy flowing back into her frame, Arcee swiftly sat up. Her body creaked in protest but she couldn't care.

Shouts and gasps quickly filled the warehouse. The moment the femme stood up, everyone present quickly stopped and stared. Arcee didn't even glance at them though. For the next few seconds, Arcee focused on scanning the warehouse and everything inside. There were the agents who filled the warehouse like ants, some strange devices she didn't want to think about, and even a vehicle big enough to transport a Cybertronian. But of everything she saw, there was no sign of her partner.

There wasn't even a trace of him.

Arcee hissed, "Scrap!"

Standing up, Arcee quickly turned toward the nearest entrance. Before the horde of MECH goons could even shout in surprise, Arcee shot passed them and through the front doors. Bullets pinged off her frame as she ran but little concern was given. After a quick roll through the air, Arcee transformed and shot off down the nearest street.

MECH agents quickly piled out of the building and fired, lighting of the street with bullets. Yet not a one could stop Arcee. The blue motorcycle zoomed on, zipping out of the abandoned section of the city and toward the closet thing she could see. The very thing she heard Silas talking about just a few moments prior.

The pillars of smoke, billowing up into the air in the distance.

* * *

_Elsewhere:_

* * *

Out in the middle of a vacant part of Jasper, something tore through the side of a building.

Airachnid. flying through the air like a brick, crashed out of the building's interior and fell straight through. The walls, the supports, and even the bolts that held it together fell like paper-mache, leaving a massive hole as the Spider rolled out of the building, gasping in shock.

Sitting up, the former Con glanced around her with a sneer. She clutched her broken arm, feeling the Energon trail down her shattered limb and stood, optics shifting back and forth. Yet Airachnid stood, a slight sliver of Energon caught her attention. The fluid dripped down her cheek, escaping from a shallow cut maiming her faceplate.

Airachnid twitched and wiped it from her face, "You little..."

Looking up, the former Decepticon glanced over what had become of what had been an abandoned part of the little town. A battlefield was the best description of it, wrought with destruction and debris in the far distance. The ground sat devastated with many holes and craters. Buildings burned while ash flowed into the sky from the flames below, leaving a trail of destruction throughout a portion of the city that had once sat so silent, abandoned for barely a point aside from storage.

The very same place, Airachnid had thought the perfect spot to have a little...sport.

As the former Con silently watched the landscape around her, observing even the slightest of movements, something emerged from the same hole she had. A colossal, skeletal fist silently pulled itself from the structure's interior and grabbed onto the fissure in the building's side. Blue, translucent bones made up the being, along with a flickering blue frame.

Airachnid lurched back, crouching as the arm emerged. With it, the femme watched as the owner of said arm tore its way out of the building itself.

Jack stepped out from the building, his arms hanging at his side. Red eyes glared at the femme, staring directly into her optics with a heated glare. He and the monster, the massive Skeleton pulled their way out of the warehouse, tearing the hole larger for the construct to fit through. Its massive hands, big enough to crush a person, bent the walls as it emerged, glaring down at Airachnid as Jack did.

The Spider flinched at such a glare and took a step back, "You are really determined today, I'll give you that..."

"What is it Jack, what happened? Finally snap? I'm honestly surprised." she admitted, "I wouldn't have guessed Arcee to pick such a...fragile creature for her partner..."

A small chuckled escaped her, "Though, two minds must think alike-"

Suddenly, the Skeleton lurched forward with its fist raised high. It slammed its massive fist down upon Airachnid, nearly knocking the ex-Con off her feet. The femme quickly leaped back and recovered her ground, nimbly jumping back and forth as the fists continued to come, one after another. She was like an actual spider, whipping avoiding a blow that would surely squash her flat.

All the while, Jack watched in silent, his eyes flickering with every movement the Cybertronian made.

But when the femme rolled out of the way of a large swipe, something happened. As she stood up, the behemoth stretched itself forward with its massive spine, slammed into her chin with an uppercut via its boney fist. It was so sudden that Airachnid felt herself get launched up the side of the very building she had been tossed through. However, the femme saved herself from plummeting back to the ground. With a quickly flicker of her optics, she stabbed her claws into the building's side and clung there, where she glared down at Jack from.

"Agh! You infernal waste of space!" She snarled, "I'll rip you apart so much that you wouldn't even qualify as a trophy!"

Releasing her grip, Airachnid launched herself from the building and dove at Jack, roaring all the while. Her remaining arm grabbed at the Skeleton as she fell, and like the building before it, clung onto its skull like some rabid animal. Holding tight, she attacked the skeleton rabidly with her claws, scratching, tearing and seething at the construct as she held onto it.

The Skeleton roared as Airachnid attacked. It shook itself to rid its hide of the machine. grabbed at her, and even nearly backed itself into the building so to crush her. Airachnid though, was no so easily dislodged. Due to her nimble nature, the femme frantically ducked and dodged most of the Skeleton's grabs. She was like an actually spider, constantly on the move as she remained upright.

And before she could be knocked from her perch, Airachnid focused her optics on the very center of the creature.

Past the bones and the flames...and focused directly on Jack.

"While this has been fun..." she hissed whilst struggling to stay upright, "I think its time we ended this!"

The Construct distracted with her, Airachnid stabbed at the teen with one of her remaining legs. Its thin structure and maneuverability allowed it passage through the barrier of bones, slipping through toward its target. But just as the teen was to be impaled on the sharp limb, he moved. Just an inch to the side, Jack stepped out of the blade's path.

Coming within inches of the boy though, the limb did manage to leave a gash on Jack's face in the process.

"No..." he muttered, tone dead silent.

Airachnid hissed and pulled her leg back. Opportunity gone, the femme stabbed her free arm into the Skeleton's spine. The blaster in the center of her palm glowed bright, energy building to tear the spine apart, and along with it, Jack too. Yet as the femme glared down, Jack looked up.

The two met, their eyes and optics clashing. Red and black eyes stared into her purple optics, glaring into her spark like knives piercing flesh.

The Spider flinched, unprepared for what she saw. There was no despair, nor fear in the boy. In fact, she wasn't even sure she was looking at the same boy from before. The one she met in a forest, one who had ran away and blew up her ship. One glance into the eyes of his teen however, told a very different tale.

Something that seemed...darker, than what she had been expecting.

Jack sneered.

"Not yet." he growled, "We're not done yet."

Just then, the Construct grabbed one of the femme's legs. With a yelp, the skeleton threw Airachnid from its massive bulk and tossed her to the ground. Now free, the Skeleton punched down, decimating the ground underneath it with just its fist.

Jack hissed as the pavement flew by his face, "We're not done until you're a bloody smear on the _ground!_"

Airachnid though, was quick. Just as she hit the ground, the former-Con rolled out of the way just as the fist met the ground. She leaped to her feet and jumped back, narrowly avoiding Jack as he attacked.

Using her sleek and nimble form, Airachnid quickly began to dodge Jack's assault with the best of her abilities. It was madhouse, frantic minutes spent dodging out of the way of grabs, punches, and entire body-checks. But as the two battled across the pavement, Airachnid hissed.

Her frame, as quick and sleek as it was, creaked under the pressure of her various wounds.

Jack's assault had left the femme in a beaten, worn-out state. Much of her armor was bent and broken, shattered by the Skeleton's ruthless attacks. Along with her shattered arm, many of Airachnid's legs were broken as well. Some had even been plucked from her frame, like a kid ripping the legs off an ant.

Her dodging proving more and more dangerous, Airachnid switched to a more desperate tactic. She blasted Jack with a barrage of webbing, slamming into the teen with nearly three times as much as before. But as with the last batch, the webbing was no match for the flames.

Faster than the femme could react, Jack tore through the webbing and descended upon her. One of its arms drove itself up into her chest, staggering the femme. Its other limb slammed into the femme's damaged side, knocking her to the ground. Airachnid howled in pain, feeling an eruption of agony run through her sensors like lightning.

Jack growled and stared down at the Spider, blood still dripping down his eyes.

"How does it feel to scream, huh?!" Jack demanded, his eyes burning bright with rage, "Do you enjoy feeling this kind of pain!?"

The Skeleton reached down and grabbed Airachnid by the neck. It pulled the former Con to her feet and looked her dead in the optics. The two forces looked into each other, one seeing a vile, sickening creature, while the other...wasn't sure what she saw. But once their stare came to an end, the Skeleton released Airachnid...

_"Do you!?"_

As she fell, Jack's construct raised both its hands and slammed them into Airachnid's back. Both fists cracked against the armor, sending her crashing onto the pavement. Even after such a devastating assault however, Airachnid slowly struggled to her feet. Her armor was cracked, torn, and in shambles. She looked about ready to fall apart.

Yet regardless, she stood.

Perhaps due to some foolish determination, unwillingness to fall, or some form of insanity. Whatever it was, she stood up all the same.

Airachnid narrowed her optics. She didn't cry at her broken state, nor did she beg for mercy. Instead, she glared up at the massive Skeleton and hissed.

The night sky loomed overhead, filled to the brim with smoke and ash. Fire flickered in the background illuminating everything in a crimson orange. Airachnid looked up and saw not the darkness of the night nor the flames of the destruction they had wrought. Instead, she saw blue. A large, blue light flickering over her frame like a burning fire.

The Construct, the pile of bones stood over her, glaring down with its pupiless eyes. But at its center, the very source of its flames, there sat something else.

A boy, with two red eyes.

**_"Tell me!"_**

Lightning, or a sound just like it crackled through the air.

Jack and his construct, the behemoth, struck the femme with all of their might. The Skeleton's fist exploded against the femme's entire helm, face and all. Every inch of their bodies, both Jack and the Skeleton threw everything and struck the Airachnid before she could blink. Jack then took one step forward, pushed with everything he had, and practically through the Spider off his Construct's fist-

And then, she was off.

Airachnid, like a meteor, tumbled through the air and crashed into the ground. Her helm smashed against the remains of the building from before, the same one June had once been tied to. It was now nothing but a pile of scattered debris, and Airachnid sat, dazed in the middle of it.

Speaking of which, June yelped as Airachnid collided with the wreckage, who unknowingly slid right by the woman, "Jesus!"

For the duration of the battle, June had sat safely near the building, or at least what had remained. From there, she had watched the battle progress, the painful assault against the femme and the savagery of Jack's assault. June had seen it all, if just for the fact that she couldn't anywhere. The webbing on her legs made it hard to run after all.

Once Airachnid crashed back down to Earth, June wisely inched herself away from the machine. After everything that had happened, being anywhere near any type of spider or machine was something she could do without, maybe for a month or two. As she distanced herself from the monster however, her son did the opposite.

Jack marched over to Airachnid and glared down at her. He and his monstrous guardian stood and watched, silently observing as the femme sat in silence.

He attacked. Not a twitch, not a sneer, Jack just attacked. He drove the massive skeletal fist down onto Airachnid's chest, practically impaling her with it.

June gasped in shock, watching in horror as Airachnid screamed. She screeched, unleashing a howl that roared into the night's sky without end. It was more than simple pain, this was agony. No hint of anger, revenge, or sadistic pleasure. It was pain, plain and simple.

It lasted for countless seconds, an hour for something that only came to amount for a slight moment. But as silence slowly replaced the howl, Airachnid went with it. Her optics dulled, her head limped backwards, and all movement disappeared from the femme's frame.

She was silent, having fallen into unconsciousness.

Flames crackled in the background, fire burning as wreckage came crumbling to the ground. Jack stood up, and glared at his fallen foe, hesitantly watching in case she was faking it. June did as well, waiting to make sure the Spider didn't sprang back to life, ready to kill either of them with a sneak attack.

But, after a minute or so of waiting...nothing happened. Nothing at all. Airachnid continued to sit there, limp and unmoving. She was out of it, done for the time being.

June let out a sigh and leaned backward, "Thank god..."

Maybe now the poor woman could get some answers. Though truthfully, June would much rather be free of the damn webbing first. It was tight, painfully even.

But as June finally began to relax, a painful groan caught her attention.

Off to the side, Jack picked up Airachnid. His construct, the massive Skeleton, reached down and grabbed the femme by the helm. Slowly and without a word, it lifted her off the ground and held her there. The hand was so massive that her head fit almost entirely within the Skeleton's fist.

But then, with a hiss, they squeezed.

Jack and his construct pressed down, the massive hand squeezing against the femme's helm. While unconscious, the metal that made up Airachnid's head began to Skeleton's massive fingers pressed inwardly, squeezing the helm so hard that it began to bend inward. It screamed, begged, and pleaded with Jack to stop.

He didn't. All Jack did at the moment, was watch. His own hand tightened, mimicking the actions of his monster.

The crushing continued, straining the femme's head until it was nothing but a crushed, ball of scra-

_"Stop!"_

One scream tore through the air, echoing in the distance. Upon hearing such a piercing sound, everything seemed to come to a halt. The groaning came to an end. The Skeleton, still with its hand wrapped around the femme's head, loosened its grip. She still hung limply in its hand, but that was it, neither did anything more.

Jack, with his eyes still blood red, stopped dead in his tracks and turned around.

Off to the side, just beyond the reach of the destruction, sat June. Regardless of the destruction, the woman had somehow managed to remain out of most of it. Perhaps Jack constantly threw Airachnid away, keeping their battle from getting too close? Or maybe it was just dumb luck? Neither knew, and that was a fact. She still sat there with the Spider's webbing wrapped around her body, making it nearly impossible to move.

But mobility aside, June screamed out to her son, yelling at the top of her lungs. The effort left her short of breath, but...she didn't care.

There were limits to the things she wanted to see. Airachnid deserved what she got, that was something June couldn't deny. Hell, she had a feeling she might of deserved more. However, there were limits. Limits to how far they should go. And how far Jack should go. She didn't want her son going this far. He had won, he had beaten her. So, there was no need for him to stoop to her level.

He wasn't a monster, and she wouldn't let him become one.

"Thats enough..." she muttered, "Its okay..."

Jack stared at June, still as a bone. Silent, he glanced up at the broken form of Airachnid. For seconds he stared, watching as the femme swung limply in his monster's grip. No hissing, no sadistic comments, nothing that he hated Airachnid for was there. All Jack saw was a beaten creature, unmoving and silent. Defenseless, vulnerable, and at his complete mercy.

Turning away, Jack looked down at his fists and watched as they twitched. He could feel the tension in his bones. The anger that swelled within. He wanted to snap the femme's neck, crush her head like a broken pile of scrape, just for everything she had done.

But with a sigh, Jack dropped his hands and looked away.

"Alright," he muttered, clenching his eyes shut, "...alright..."

His lowered, Jack turned back to his mother. Without a word, the massive Skeleton released its hold on Airachnid, and floated after Jack. The beast's hands loosened and dropped the femme's helm, allowing to fall to the ground. Such furious attacks, the stature, and even the presence of the beast began to drift off, cooling off like a simmering fire.

Airachnid, without anything holding her up, crashed into the ground and landed face first. It was there that she sat. Silent, motionless...but still in one piece.

Now vanquished, both mother and son took a moment to relax. June leaned back and sighed, her nerves shaking like a leaf. Though, they were nothing compared to her son's. At the moment, Jack could actually feel everything begin to drift off like a weightless cloud. The anger, the tension, the very urge to bury his boot into someone's face. All of it began to drift off, like steam being released from the lip of a hot teapot. There was just so much that Jack felt his shoulders go limp in relief.

Which seconds later, they immediately went rigid with pain, Jack bit his lip, "Ow..."

As the tension vanished like a bad dream, the teen felt himself awake to a sea of pain.

Without a goal in sight and the anger to claim it holding everything back, an eruption of pain gripped the boy's body. His skin felt as if it was burning, his cells were tearing themselves apart, and his bones? Each had a crack within them where lava pooled out from within. If Jack hadn't been feeling a dull version of the pain since it had started, he surely would have screamed.

But with his anger disappearing, something else faded into the night The massive, behemoth of a Skeleton. The thing that had fought for Jack, that had protected him, slowly vanished from sight.

The flames that had burned so bright in the night, vanished as if a rain had doused them. Its might limbs that had beaten the Cybertronian into submission, fell it its side as if the life had left. And even the beast's glowing eyes disappeared, leaving its skull empty and void. And without even a flicker, the beast vanished. Its bones disappeared, dissolving just as they had when they first appeared. All that remained was Jack, who sat along with a tingle in his eyes.

With a sigh, Jack glanced at his mother and smiled.

His body felt in pain, worn out like a year old punching back. If he had the choice, Jack would have honestly gone to sleep for an entire week, not even giving school or work a second thought. But regardless of the pain he felt or the stingy, anger that clung pointlessly to the back of the boy's mind, Jack smiled at his mother.

At the very least, she was alright.

"So..." June murmured, shifting in place, "I guess...you weren't kidding about the robot thing, weren't you?"

Grasping his knees, Jack let out a soft, cough ridden chuckle, "Oh, you remember that...? Heh, nah...I wasn't. Though, I...kinda wish you didn't have to meet one...like this..."

Out of all the ways Jack could think of for his mother to find out the truth, this wasn't one of his top choices. In fact, if he had a list, this wouldn't even be in the top a hundred choices. Jack wouldn't have even his worst enemy pit through such a hell they had gone though. If anything, he would of been just happy with showing his mother Arcee and then being done with it-

Jack snapped upward, his eyes going wide, "Oh god-!"

His anger no longer blinding him, Jack remembered everything. Arcee, where she was, what had happened. How MECH had knocked her out, intent on doing god knows what to her like they had done to Breakdown. Jack, how he had merely left her to go chase after his mother. How he had sworn to go back and help her after he had made sure his mother was okay.

She was still back there, in that accursed warehouse. Alone, defenseless, and abandoned by her own partner!

Horror filled Jack, a deep fear of what he had let happen. Gripping his head, the teen shook frantically and silently muttered to himself over and over again, "No, no, no, no, no!"

June looked up at her son, alarmed, "Jack? What is it?!"

Frantically, Jack looked around. The section of Jasper they were in was a painful mess. Holes covered the ground in every direction, fires were everywhere, at least three buildings had been reduced to wreckage, and the fires. A bomb looked as if it had been set off, and that seemed to be an understatement.

_'Where, where is...come on, where!?'_ Jack yelled at himself. He searched for the path he had ran in from not so long ago. He figured that from there, he could make his way back to the warehouse Silas had tricked him and Arcee into coming to. If he could get back there, maybe he could save her too.

If it wasn't too late.

"Jack!" his mother screamed again, "Whats wrong?!"

The teen clutched his head and took a knee. What if it was too late? How long had he been wasting time? Again! First beating up on those MECH agents and now Airachnid!? What was wrong with him!? Instead of attacking them, he should of been doing what was important! His mother had almost fallen to her death because of his delays and now...

"No!" Jack yelled.

As emotions continued to build, a single drop of blood rolled down his cheek, "I...I need to get back! They still have...I can still-!"

Watching confused, June tried to stand up so to approach her son, "Jack, please! Talk to me, whats wrong!?"

The sound of his mother's voice snapped Jack back to reality like the sound of glass shattering. Quite violently, Jack nearly ripped a good chunk of his hair out as he looked up. Still slightly twitching, the teen looked to his mother with a frantic and slightly unnerving look in his eyes.

"Arcee! M-my motorcycle! These guys knocked her out and I need to go-"

_"What the hell..."_

An unknown voice broke through the air. Jack stopped, frozen in place. His eyes grew wide while his hands balled into fists and his mouth clamped shut.

June in the meanwhile, blinked confusingly, "Huh?"

Mother and son turned around and set their eyes on a small portion of the clearing, one that was untouched by the chaos. No fires had tainted the ground or sky, the pavement and concrete were still intact, and the builds had naught a scratch on them. But from this peace, the voice along with who it belonged to, revealed themselves.

The voice, unknown to either, had emerged nearby. Several men stepped into the clearing through a nearby path, one set between two buildings that had been untouched by the battle. To the naked eye, most would assume police officers or even firefighters might have been responsible. A response from the authorities over the destruction was overdue.

But as the men emerged, the boy narrowed his eyes. They wore nothing that could be considered normal. Masks adorned their faces, grey military uniforms graved their bodies, and rifles sat in their hands.

A spark flickered to life within Jack, the very sight of these men triggered something within the teen.

"The hell happened here?" one of the men muttered, eyes wide in shock."

Another shrugged, "No clue...looked like a bomb had gone off..."

"Did the Spider plan to blow them all up or something?"

"Not a clue..."

Stepping out from the shadows, many of the MECH agents glanced around the area with confusion. Their job had been to find out what was going on, as their boss had a feeling things hadn't been going alright with their 'partner'. Perhaps some of the other machines had shown up, or she was just playing a little rough, no one could guess which.

But when the squad arrived at the location, none had been prepared for what they had found.

"Yeah..." one of them muttered, "...I'll just call this in."

As the rest of his squad looked almost ready to turn tail and run, one of their numbers lowered his weapon and activated his radio. They had been sent there one for a reason, and he at least was going to keep to that reason. Yet even then, the man could not keep his eyes off what they had found, especially the looming...thing that stood over Jack.

They weren't the only ones who could not keep themselves from gawking though. June looked on at the group in shock as well but for another reason.

"You-!" she almost cried, "You're the-!"

June remembered, those last few moments of consciousness she had before waking up here on that building. Her ending shift at the hospital, walking out to her car, the van pulling up. She remembered everything, and she remembered the men in that van. They were the last thing she had seen, and they looked exactly the same to the men she looked at now.

They were the same, which meant...

These jerks were the assholes that kidnapped her!

Such news shook June frantically. She hadn't given the men a thought due to the monstrous commotion Airachnid and her son had caused. Now that she knew though, June turned to her son and tried to warn him. But the seconds she gazed at her son, June stopped and gazed with wide eyes.

Jack faced the ground, his eyes hidden behind his hair. His body was still like a stature, unmoving aside from his hands. They were clenched shut, so tight that his nails nearly pierced skin. Bones popped painfully as his knuckles turned white. A sneer sat trembling on his face, no words escaping his throat.

"...Jack?" his mother asked, growing concerned.

The teen twitched, almost awakened by the woman's voice. Painfully, Jack lifted his gaze up and glared across the clearing. He ignored his mother, he ignored Airachnid, and he ignored everything else that could possibly draw his attention. Jack focused everything on the men, the agents of Silas' organization.

And he saw red.

_**"You!"**_

One word cut through the silence. It was loud, echoing and powerful, as if someone had spoken through a loud speaker. While it echoed through the empty lot though, the word smacked into the squad like a bag of bricks. Raw emotion crashed into them, as if they had been pointed out from within a sea of people.

Flinching, each man turned their attention towards the source of such a cry.

Jack, silent as the grave, began marching towards the men, much to their confusion.

"The hell?" one of the men muttered, dumbfounded.

Remarkably, Jack's approach wasn't what confused the men. In reality, it was the fact that he was doing while in the condition he was in. Jack's body was in ruins. His legs constantly dragged themselves through the lot while his arms hung limply at his sides. The teen's shoulders were slumped forward without a hint of resistance, unable to keep themselves up.

With every step he took, Jack wheezed and coughed like an old man. Blood continued to drip down his face, falling to the ground as he marched toward the group.

Of his whole body, only the teen's eyes remained untouched by his weariness. While the rest of him sat ready to fall into unconsciousness, his red orbs continued to glare across at the men. Strained, bloodied, and as red as the most furious flames, Jack's eyes pierced the agents as he slowly marched towards them.

Unaware of such a glare, the squad watched dumbfounded as the teen approached them. Some were amused by his stumbling while others were just, confused, "Is this kid serious?"

"No idea," one of them muttered, "Think we should just...you know?"

The others shrugged, "Dunno, the boss wanted to see what was going on here...speaking of which, you get a hold of him yet?"

One of the men shook his head and fiddled with his radio, "Working on it. This town has some of the worst connection I've ever seen, its nuts. Though, might as well just clean up. I bet the boss would be more than up for ripping that bitch apart too. Been creepy as hell while shes been around."

None of the others objected to that. Airachnid had made their daily activities an utter hell while she was around. Made many of their operatives wonder if they'd be able to walk the halls of their base alone, in the dark without having to worry about her pulling anything.

Quite a few of them had nightmares of the...webbing incident where their boss had first ran into the giant mechanical spider.

A grunt lifted his rifle and shrugged, "Right, we're likely to get our ears yelled off if we don't."

The remaining members of the squad nodded. With the authorities now on the hunt for them, MECH had very little room to leave things behind. The kidnapping scenario, retrieving those two bumbling idiots from the police after they had been caught. Nothing could be traced back to them, not a word or a whisper.

Not even a kid and his mother-

"You...all, set this up..."

Stopping, the squad slowly turned around.

Across the clearing, Jack continued to walk toward the group. The sight made the squad laugh, each amused by the boy's determination. On the other side of things, June struggled with her bindings, unable to do a thing as her son approached. These were the same men who kidnapped her, and the sight of those guns did not help cool the woman's worry.

But as the wind itself looked ready to knock Jack on his behind, a angered hiss escaped through the teen's bloody teeth.

"You and that bald..._bastard_ of a boss!" he hissed, "You helped her find us, you led her in our direction!..."

Clenching his eyes shut, memories flashed across his line of sight, "You involved my mother, you attacked Arcee! Everything you've done here, all of it is one your HEADS!"

Even as a horrid cough gripped Jack's lungs, he continued forward. The squad's laughter vanished swiftly, disappearing as they grew ever more uncomfortable. Jack continued forward, almost beyond what he should of been able to do. His feet dragged themselves across the ground, his hands trembled as they clenched together, and blood continued to drip down his face.

And yet, he continued onward, much to the men's confusion.

_'The hell is with this kid!?'_ one of the grunts thought, _'Hes about ready to fall over, and hes insulting us? Did that spider...mess...with his...he...'  
_

The grunts, armed and dangerous, stopped in their tracks. Suddenly, their blood ran cold. Disbelief invaded their bodies, and an uncomfortable feeling slowly began to grip their spines. Slowly, their eyes panned up and gawked at a sight above Jack, something of a looming shadow flowing overhead.

"What..." another man muttered, his body going numb, ...the fuck..."

"...my god..."

As his feet slowly crawled across the ground, an inferno erupted around Jack. Flames, unnaturally blue, burst to life and surrounded the teen. It began as sparks at first, such as a flicker that came off of Jack's shoes as he walked. But from these embers, the fire grew. From a flicker of like, an inferno, a massive blizzard of blue flames erupted around Jack, seemingly consuming him.

The squad looked on in confusion. At first, one glance had told the men that Jack was gone, disappeared within the eruption of flames. But with the inferno raged, the men gasped when they saw Jack, unharmed and at the center of the inferno, as if he was the heart of the flames themselves.

_'What...what the hell...'_ an agent trembled.

_'The hell is this!?'_

The crackling of fire drowned out nearly everything. Jack's wheezing, his coughing, all of it was overcome by the flames crackling. Yet even then, something else appeared within the flames.

Bones. Massive, colossal, and translucent bones appeared from within the fire. They formed from nothing, appearing out of the heat itself as they took a familiar shape. A massive spine was first, followed by ribs, an upper body, arms, fists, and finally a skull. Massive, colossal bones appeared within the inferno, towering over Jack as tall as a Cybertronian would have.

Its eyes, empty sockets in the skull, came to life. Energy, as if power itself illuminated the skull interior, giving life to the entire frame. The Skeleton's massive arms lifted themselves up and slammed into the ground, creating a near earthquake with their force alone. The Skull reared itself back and roared, its unnatural, primal voice echoing throughout the area.

"Holy shit..." one of the men muttered, the rest to shocked for words.

With a crack of its boney neck, the Skeleton glared down at the men, just as Jack had. Merely looking into the monster's pupil-less eyes made the men twitch. They raised their weapons at the monster, but could not keep them steady. Like their bodies, their hands twitched uncontrollably, fingers barely touching the triggers.

None weren't prepared, not for this.

Both Jack and his monster closed in on the men, they neared the breaking point. Many began muttering, fear and doubt taking hold. But as the group talked, Jack felt something twitch somewhere within his mind. A slew of memories raced in, everything the group, their boss, their entire organization had done to them.

And it was gust them, not the bots at large, not the Decepticons, and not even solely Jack himself.

He remembered everything they had done to him, his mother, and Arcee.

Jack bit his lip as the memories flowed in, sending a tremor of hate spiraling through his body, "The people you've harmed, tried to harm-"

These men had helped kidnap June, starting the whole affair. Silas had taunted Jack with his mother's disappearance, sat back as their signal tortured Arcee, and watched without even a hint of humanity as Arcee was knocked unconscious. None of them cared what Airachnid was going to do, they KNEW what she was going to do and gave them up anyway!

Every detail, every word, and every comment built up within the teen, like a ticking bomb. And all of it, in one flashing moment, made something just...

Snap.

"All of you!" he howled, "For what you've done, why don't you all just-!"

In one swift instant, Jack clapped his hands together. What happened next was like a blur. Jack's hands moved like a blur, casing the grunts to look on with what confusion they could muster. None had all that much chance to notice his actions however, as their attention was instead drawn to the behemoth and its own actions.

Whilst Jack flew through his hand-signs, the Skeleton moved its arms. It looked as if it was moving out of the way of something. A fact the men realized far too late.

Finished, Jack brought one hand up to his mouth and glared at the squad, one final time.

_**"-Burn!"**_

Nothing prepared the agents for what they witnessed. Jack, with one small exhale, unleashed a massive fireball upon the world. Flames had erupted from his mouth and transformed upon touching the air, forming the fireball from the bowls of his being. The orb flew through the air like a cannonball, shooting towards the group as looked on.

Frantically, the squad shook their heads free from the confusion and did the first thing they could think of. Some fired at the ball of flames, praying to something that their bullets could stop its rapid approach. Others simply threw their weapons aside and ran for it, taking the flight option rather than fighting.

But as the flames drew closer, one grunt took one look at the orb and dropped his gun, "Well..."

"Shit."

With a colossal bomb, the fireball crashed into the side of the warehouse in a thunderous explosion. Flames shot up and across the building's side, some even truckling across the ground in the aftermath. Such a detention shook the very ground itself, sending a backlash of heat that nearly felt similar to a hurricane's wrath.

Again, June nearly found herself knocked on her side by the force of the heat while her son watched on.

But off to the side, a slight twitch occurred, unknown to all others.

The MECH agents weren't so lucky. In a span of seconds, many of their number were consumed by the fiery blaze. Some were instantly vaporized, reduced to husks of ash within the blink of an eye. Those who tried to run fared slightly better, but their backs suffered the fire's wrath all the same. Anyone not burned to a crisp were tossed to the side, the force of their landing knocking them into unconsciousness.

Darkness claimed them, leaving the once strong and ready group in the chaos that had been created. The warehouse they had gathered in front of was a smoking wreck, stained with ashes and burnt bodies. Death, charred flesh and leather, and chaos reigned, all from the hands of one teen.

June gawked at her son, her eyes wide in disbelief, "I..."

Jack himself stood in silence, watching as his flames slowly vanished into the night. The ash and smoke of the blast slowly became all that was left, resulting in one more scar among their tiny town. But as the smoke drifted off into the sky, Jack frowned at the remains, glaring at where the bodies had fallen.

Even while covered in ash and smelling of burnt flesh, the teen couldn't help but sneer.

_'Better than you deserved-'_

**_"!"_**

Suddenly, Jack dropped to the ground. He fell on his knees and wrapped his arms around his body, "Ah-!"

Pain. A vicious, horrifying pain gripped the teen. He froze, gasping for air as his entire body lit up like a Christmas tree. Every inch, every cell, every pour he had screamed out in agony. Jack could barely even contain it, the pain was like nothing he had felt before. His body trembled, fingers shook, and hands dug into the sides of his arms.

He couldn't even scream. The limits he had were gone, torn apart by his ambition. All that remained was pain, an agonizing sensation ripping throughout the boy's entire body. Hellish, nightmarish torment, stabbing at the very core of the boy's essence.

Recovering from the massive heatwave from earlier, June looked to her son with shock, "Jack!?"

She tried to stand, she tried to get some footing so she could run over to the boy. But once more, the woman had little luck. A certain spider had left the woman without a way to move effectively. She was bound, tied up like some pathetic damsel tired to a train tracks. And while no train was coming to run her over, June looked to her son helplessly.

The boy himself sat withering in pain. His clenched his eyes shut, begging for the pain to end.

In the distance, a sudden rumble echoed through the air. Less than a few yards away from Jack, from June, someone could hear the sound of stones crumbling if they listened close enough. Like a few boulders falling off a mountain, bits of concrete and pavement fell to the ground, breaking into even more pieces.

June, caught off guard by the sudden noise, turned around, unsure of what it was.

But as she looked, she gasped at what she saw, "Oh god..."

Pushing herself from the broken crater that had become her home, Arachnid limped back onto her feet. Beaten, broken from the pummeling Jack had delivered onto her, the spider glared across the landscape with one functioning optic. Everything else on the femme was utterly trashed, from her frame to her broken arm. Even her helm had dents in it too.

Regardless of all the damage however, Airachnid stood and hobbled off.

Straight toward Jack.

Horrified, June watched as the femme stumbled her way towards the teen. Her feet scraped against the ground, dragging themselves in a painful, slow limp. Jack however, remained perfectly still during the entire exchange. His body sat trembling, frozen as if he was in shock. He didn't even glance back at Airachnid and see the femme as she approached.

Eyes widening, June yelled to her son as loud as she could, "JACK! The Spider! She-shes up again!"

Everything June could think of, she screamed it. Begging, yelling, demanding, ordering, and even crying, she said it all, everything she could think of to catch her son's attention. But as Airachnid drew in for the kill, Jack stood still, like a statue unaware of the hammer about to come down upon him.

"Jack! Come on! Move! Please! Shes coming! Right now! You gotta move! I know you're tired but..._Jack_! _Please! MOVE!_"

The teen remained still, paralyzed with pain.

Finally coming to a stop, Airachnid stood just feet behind Jack with her optic glaring down at the teen. As silent as the grave, the former Con lifted her remaining arm and straightened out her palm, sharp claws and all. Slowly, she pulled her arm back and aimed it at an angle, where its very tip found itself aimed directly at Jack's back.

June screamed, helpless as Airachnid prepared to end it. She pulled her arm back and swiftly lurched forward with a hiss, stabbing at Jack with the sharpened limb.

Seconds passed by in what seemed like an eternity. Airachnid's claw shot towards Jack, aiming straight for his spine. June screamed and struggled frantically with her bindings. And Jack remained still, unable to move, to talk, or even think due to the hellish pain ripping through his body.

But just as the Spider's claws aimed to strike home, something appeared.

At first, it appeared to be a low rumbling, like thunder sitting up within the clouds. Then, it grew louder and closer, like something approaching the battlefield. June stopped screaming, and glanced up, as did Airachnid. It wasn't thunder or something of the like...instead it sounded like an...

Engine?

In the moment of confusion, something shot forward. A blue blur flew through the air and smashed into Airachnid. None had seen where it had come from, as if it had emerged from nowhere. But the force of its arrival alone knocked Airachnid to the ground, hissing as she fell. Both it and the Spider fell to the side, away from Jack and June. But as Airachnid landed, the blur began to transform.

June blinked, "Is that...the motorcycle?"

No one was driving it, but June recognized the blue. The motorcycle that Jack had drove almost everyday, it was the very one that had caused their argument for the past few days. It had crashed into the giant robot and knocked her off of Jack, and now...it was transforming into something...bigger.

Something humanoid, and something that made June gawk, "I don't believe it."

Slowly, Jack willed himself to look up. The pain he felt was excruciating, but one glance at the bike as it finished made him smile. For the first time since the fight had begun, Jack felt relief. Not relief from the pain of course, that still burned bright. But, relief in itself.

_'You're okay...' _he sighed, _'Thank god...'_

Falling back to Earth, the motorcycle stood transformed. Out of the bike, Arcee sprang forth and landed, her body standing between the boy and her dreaded enemy. She stood just as tall as Airachnid, blue armor glowing in the light of Jack's construct. Two massive blades deployed from her arms, shining in the moonlight. She glared across the broken landscape, her optics ignoring everything but her foe.

Airachnid pushed herself up from the ground. Her body creaked and moaned in resistance, but she forced it none the less.

"You...slagging.." she slurred, Energon dripping down her mouth.

Arcee crossed her blades, the metal gleaming as she took a fighting stance, "I won't let you touch them, you hear me? Never again!"

The spider twitched. Her frame trembled, shaking wildly. A wild, fierce look exploded within her remaining optic. In a moment of utter insanity, Airachnid threw herself at Arcee. She crashed into the femme and tore into her like a rabid dog. She scratched, tore, and clawed at the Autobot, all with her remaining arm.

"Touch them!? I won't touch them! I'll do worse than that! So much worse!" she hissed, "I'll rip them apart, make them feed for some animal, I tear them into ribbons, and I'll _make you watch!"_

Arcee flinched and skidded back. She held her arms up and used her blades as a shield against Airachnid's frenzy. She struck wildly and without end, her claws tearing and scratching against the sides of the blades, denting and scratching them with every strike. One thrust however, proved too fierce. The claws struck too hard and bounced off the blade, sending themselves and their owner wide.

Arcee, seeing this as a moment, quickly struck back. As Airachnid tried to pull her arm back under control, Arcee kicked the femme in her side, smashing into her broken frame.

Pain flared against the Spider as Arcee fought on. She followed up her kick with another and stuck the Con's upside her own helm. But she didn't stop with just one. The Autobot furiously attacked again and again, pummeling the damaged femme until she staggered backwards.

Now limp in a daze, Arcee twisted herself around and slammed the very heel of her leg onto the top of Airachnid's head. Such a blow cracked the Spider's helm, buckling her legs as the ground grew ever closer.

As the femme dropped however, Airachnid dove at Arcee and tackled her out of the air. Neither able to hold the other up, both Cybertronians slammed back onto the ground, their bodies cracking the pavement. Off to the side, Jack flinched as the impact shook the ground, his eyes watching as the two continued to struggle, even then.

While grounded, both machines rolled and struggled amongst each other, grabbing and pushing in an attempt to gain an advantage.

It was practically a blur of fists and claws, the two femmes grunting and cursing while they fought.

As they rolled, the tables suddenly turned. Airachnid, by use of what remained of her legs, pinned Arcee to the ground and began swiping maddeningly at her. She had only one arm to use but the talons were as sharp as ever. Luckily, after one swing missed her helm by just an inch, Arcee caught the Con's arm and held it back, just barely keeping it from scaring her hide.

For what seemed like minutes, the pair sat stuck in a stalemate. Airachnid, with only one arm, pressed down on Arcee while the bot desperately kept her back. But with the ground underneath her, the bot found herself in an odd position with little move to maneuver.

They were trapped, stuck staring into the eyes of their enemy.

Smirking, the former Con leaned forward and chuckled, "Now...this seems familiar."

"Tell me, how often have we found ourselves in such positions...I'm curious," she mused regardless of Arcee's struggling, "We really have been doing this for a while...too long in fact. Its been the same dance for years and I'm growing quite _sick_ of it if you ask me..."

"So...if you don't mind..."

Furiously. Airachnid pressed down, forcing her claws ever closer to Arcee helm, "Lets put an end to this and let me tear out your **_spark!_**"

The ground, the very dirt underneath the two bent underneath their weight. Airachnid, by force of will alone, forced her arm down, drawing her claws ever closer to Arcee's frame. The Autobot pushed back, giving all she had. But with the ground pressing back against her, Arcee found nothing to fall back on. She was without support.

A fact the Spider laughed at, sounding almost unhinged, "Thats it! Just a little more!"

Slowly, her claws began to press forward, inching downward toward the bot's face. Arcee trembled, struggling as the limb continued forth. Her elbows dug into the ground, her hands shaking as she pushed back. All the while, Airachnid laughed, finding amusement in the struggling she saw in the femme's optics.

As she laughed though, Airachnid failed to notice something. A creaking noise, akin to bones cracking. The soft patter of footsteps in the distance...

And, a bright, blue-ish glow that shined off the back of her frame.

"Enough."

Just as Airachnid began a shiver of laughter, something silenced her. A massive, skeletal fist rose up from behind the two femmes and grabbed Airachnid by the face. It was so large that it nearly entirely engulfed the Spider's head, leaving not even a sliver of her helm sticking out from between its fingers.

As she struggled, the fist swiftly lifted Airachnid off the ground, freeing the Autobot from beneath her frame.

Able to sit up, Arcee followed her foe up and readied her blasters. But as the bot glanced upward, she stopped. Her optics widened and her blasters slowly lowered to the ground. Upon first arriving, she had skimmed over it, Airachnid having taken her focus the moment she saw her. But now, Arcee saw it. The flaming Skeleton, the behemoth of bones. Standing just as tall as an average bot, blue flames swirling around it, glaring forth with massive glowing eyes, and finally...

Her optics widened in surprise, "What..."

The person who stood, slouched over in-between its massive ribcage.

"I'm tired, and I'm sick of seeing your twisted face..." Jack hissed, his eyes twitching painfully, "So, please..."

**_"GET LOST!"_**

Clutching the machine as tight as he could, Jack took one step and lobbed Airachnid across the clearing. The massive Skeleton whipped the Spider through the air, sending her flying across the pavement and smashing painfully in the one final building. A lone warehouse, far across the clearing on the clear other side of their battlefield.

Airachnid slammed into the warehouse and ripped right through, leaving a massive hole in her wake. And just like that, Airachnid vanished, disappearing into the shadows without a sound.

Shadows, she did not re-emerge from.

"Primus..." Arcee muttered, optics wide.

Lowering his arm, Jack cracked his neck. He watched, silently observing where Airachnid had landed. His eyes narrowed and looked deep into the shadows, scanning for even the slightest trace of movement. But, when nothing came about, the teen let out a sigh and turned to Arcee.

"You okay?"

Flinching, Arcee blinked and shook her helm. She turned to Jack, trying her best not to look as confused as she felt. Something that wasn't all that easily given the massive Skeleton that sat floating around the boy's body. It was about as distracting as Bulkhead wanting to solve a problem with anything besides punching or blowing something up.

"Um...yeah...fine." she muttered, almost a whisper.

Another sigh escaped the teen, "Good..."

Slowly, Jack turned once again. This time, his gaze fell upon his mother. June had thankfully remained out of range of the femme's battle. She still had Airachnid's webbing tied all around her body, and her hair wasn't in the best condition given all the explosions, fire, and ash that had torn up the sky, but aside from that? His mother looked fine.

Least, that was what the boy's eyes could tell him, "Mom? You feeling alright?"

A wide look in her eyes, June turned to her son and blinked, "...I think so.."

"Not really sure of...anything thats going on anymore..." she muttered, glancing down at herself, "But...I'm fine, kinda want this stuff off though..."

Silently shaking his head, Jack sighed. Relief quickly filled his chest, like a nice warm shower after one hell of a day. And if Jack knew anything, he knew they had been having more than a hell of a day. The notion of it simply being that felt like a gross understatement, at the very least even.

Taking a step forward, Jack rubbed his head and nodded, "Alright, thats fair."

"I'll just..."

Before he could even finish his sentence, Jack fell to his knees.

Arcee sat up while June looked over at Jack, both alarmed, "Jack?"

Suddenly, a smack of exhaustion struck Jack across the face. His entire body, from the very tip of his head to the bottom of his feet grew tired, to the point of near collapse. Legs grew numb, unable to move. Arms fell to the side, limp and lifeless. Breathing became troubled, wheezing and coughs taking root. And even his head slumped, as heavy as led.

June and Arcee called out, alarmed by the sight. Regardless of how much they screamed however, Jack didn't hear them, not the slightest whisper.

"...get to that..." he gasped, holding his chest with a trembling hand.

Slowly, the world grew dark. Jack's eyes turned dull, the life draining out of them like a leaking pipe. The strange transformation, sparked by rage, slowly disappeared. They shifted back to normal, first the bizarre form he had grown used to over the last few weeks, and then the stormy blue eyes he had been born with. But as the red left his orbs, a haze set in.

A tiring fog, creeping in from all sides.

"...in a minute."

One final whisper, and he fell.

Jack collapsed, falling face first to the cold hard ground. His eyes began creeping shut, a darkness flowing in from all sides.

Voices echoed, screaming silently in the distance. June and Arcee shot to their feet and ran, their voices echoing into the night. But to Jack, he heard nothing. He felt nothing. Nothing at all, aside from a dull, cold feeling. His hands were numb, his legs were numb, and the teen slowly felt his eyes creep shut on him.

Of the last things he saw, two blurry figures ran in the boy's direction...

And then, darkness.

* * *

_A.N:_

_Damn. Well, at least it was about as big as the last one. In word count anyway. But still, how as the chapter guys? I actually wanted to include more...but, I felt this was a nice way to end it. Would of been REALLY big if I included some of the other stuff. Still, things get a bit more...explain-y next time, and then the fun gets rolling! Jack's eyes have been awakened, June knows about the bots, and Arcee is VERY confused._

_She missed, quite a bit, didn't she?_

_Wait, do I say that a lot? I have a feeling I do...Oh well, I'm not lying. I'm sure there iss a lot of questions coming up, but things are going to get banging soon, and we might even see a few familiar faces that some people from the other side of this story may know. Not who you're expecting of course, but...we'll see._

_Regardless, I hope you guys enjoyed this Chapter, if you got a question, PM me or leave it in a review, and I'll see you guys next time!_

* * *

_RxR- Read &amp; Review please._


End file.
